On The Road To Enlightenment
by Flint009
Summary: It all began when the great terror known as the Kyuubi attacked konohagakure, annihilating everyone foolish enough to get in his way. That was until a brilliant light washed over the area, seemingly wiping the Kyuubi out of existence. Baby Naruto was then taken away from the world of the shinobi to the world of the living! Chapters 1-9 edited Eventual Super!Ichigo
1. An Enemy's Chance

**I don't own Naruto or Bleach**

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**Chapter 1**

**An Enemy's Chance**

It all began twelve years ago, when the Kyuubi attacked the village hidden in the leaves. Even to this day it remained a mystery to why he even attack said village in the first place. Was the fox angry at the leaf villagers for something they'd done to him? Nobody could tell why this powerful fox wanted to eradicate them, but they all knew for sure that he'd to be stopped; otherwise the demon fox would destroy them and their village. Every single shinobi fought bravely against the demon fox, using every single amount of their chakra, using all their moves in their arsenal to kill the fox. All their efforts fell in vain, as the fox brushed off all their pathetic attempts to kill him, with a single swipe of his tail! The fox caused a tsunami to appear from literally out of nowhere!

Those who saw the huge fox with nine tails caused a tsunami with minimum effort felt their confidence drop, just like a ton of bricks. Most had just given up; fully believing the fox would kill them now. All but one shinobi fell to the overwhelming might of the demon fox. The only shinobi that did not fall was the fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, otherwise known as the yellow flash of the leaf.

Namikaze Minato summoned Gamabunta, the giant toad sage who hailed from mount myoboku and enraged in a fierce battle with the Kyuubi, determined to defeat the demon fox and rescue his village. However, after a short battle, he too realized he could not defeat the fox. It was within that very moment something really amazing happened! Something that would leave many puzzled for years to come. Inexplicably there was a bright flash of light, so bright that those who would dare to look at the light would be blinded for life. After the light had faded away, everyone was left speechless and confused. The fox was no more! Vanished literally into thin air!

Before anyone could celebrate, the third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, who passed the torch onto Minato sent ANBU black ops to check on the battle field, after realizing Minato was nowhere to be seen. Hiruzen was shell shocked and above all else heartbroken, when the ANBU returned carrying the dead bodies of both Namikaze Minato and his wife Namikaze Kushina, the former host for the nine tails fox. Yet, there was more shocking news. Seem someone left a note by the dead bodies of Kushina and Minato. The note stated, "_I've taken the son of both Minato and Kushina with me. It had been discussed that I was__ the best guardian for the boy"_

Hiruzen frowned at the note. He immediately assumed the man had kidnapped the new-born baby. Hiruzen had almost ordered ANBU black ops out on a rescue mission to save the baby, which was until he saw the signatures of both Minato and Kushina at the bottom of the note, clarifying that they'd agreed with the man taking their son and that the villagers mustn't worry about their son's safety.

Hiruzen understood perfectly well. He knew that there was nothing he could do about this current situation. So, Hiruzen having been forced back into the seat of Hokage, held a memorial in honour of the three heroes in his eyes that were Namikaze Minato, Namikaze Kushina and their son, now destined to have his mother maiden name which was Uzumaki.

Even to this day to date, nobody knows where Uzumaki Naruto went, but Hiruzen was sure that Uzumaki Naruto was alive and well, and that his adventures would soon begin.

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**Persent day - Twelve years after the nine tails fox's attack**

Far away from the world of the shinobi to the world of the living, in a big house where there was only two people living in it. This was of course where our hero to be lived with his grandmother Tomoyo.

"Aaaaaah," the boy yawned as sat up on his bed and outstretched his arms. The boy had blond spiky hair, cerulean blue colored eyes and oddly enough he also happened to have three cat like whisker marks on the side of his cheeks. His grandmother Tomoyo had told him the whiskers on his cheeks were his birth marks. "Ahhh," the boy sighed in a deadpanned tone. "Another boring day of school," the blond boy hated school with a passion. He always scored the lowest on any test, sometimes he believed the teachers had it out for him, simply because he can't pass a test to save his life.

_Knock, knock._ There was a faint knocking sound coming from the direction of the boy's bedroom. "Naruto-kun, are you up sweetie?" A voice asked from just outside of the door. The voice being a woman's gentle and kind voice, "I've got your favorite breakfast ready" - The woman added in.

"ALRIGHT!" The boy now known as Naruto cheered loudly, knowing exactly what the woman had prepared for him. "COME IN GRANDMA TOMOYO" - Naruto shouted to the woman now identified as Tomoyo, his grandma.

The doorknob of Naruto's room slowly turned. Then the door came forward revealing an elderly woman with grey curly hair, sort of shape like a bush. She had jade green eyes, filled with all the love no amount of money could buy. She was wearing a blue dress covering her entire body and an apron around her waist. Tomoyo was holding a tray in between her hands and on said tray looked to be a cup of apple juice and a bowl of Naruto's favorite breakfast, lunch and dinner of all time...

"RAMEN!" Naruto cheered loudly, having the goofiest smile one could ever see on his face. "YOU'RE THE BEST GRANDMA TOMOYO!"

Tomoyo placed the tray on Naruto's lap and ruffled his hair: "Everything for my little Naruto-kun. Now eat up, so you can grow up to be big and strong!"

"Grandma!" Naruto looks sheepish. "I'm already big and strong! I'm practically the strongest, coolest kid in my school," Naruto boasted with a smile.

"Haha," Tomoyo let out a good heartened laugh. Her adopted grandson could be over exaggeration at times; although he was strong there was no denying that. "Ok Naruto-kun, eat up and then get ready for school. You don't want to be late now"

"Ok grandma Tomoyo," Naruto replied, grinning. Tomoyo smiled and left his room, giving Naruto sometime to eat up, get dressed and leave for school.

Within the next hour, Naruto had eaten his breakfast, had a shower and was dressed in his school uniform. Naruto was wearing a white shirt with the edges of his shirt tucked into his grey school jeans. He also happened to be wearing a black tie and matching shoes on his feet. "Ok Grandma Tomoyo, I'm off to school now," Naruto commented, opening up the door to his grandma's house.

Tomoyo threw Naruto his orange hoody, which Naruto expertly caught. "Ok Naruto-kun. Say hello to Yuzu-chan and Karin-chan for me," Tomoyo replied. Tomoyo and Isshin, Yuzu's dad, happen to be good friends. Isshin usually helped Tomoyo with her shopping from time to time. And because he brings his two daughters, Yuzu and Karin along, Tomoyo knows them quite well. She'd know their brother, if he actually came, but sadly that's just not Kurosaki Ichigo's style.

"I will grandma Tomoyo," Naruto responded. Naruto walked out of the house and closed the door behind him. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHH," Naruto stretched out his arms as he took in the view of the town. The sky was blue, the clouds were white and the birds were singing.

It was just another beautiful day in Karakura town.

Naruto put on his orange hoody and looked ahead of himself with a look of determination shining in his eyes, "Best get going to school then. I don't want to be late again," Naruto sprinted down the alleyway, determined to get to school as fast as possible, "As long as that teme doesn't bother me again. I'll get to school on time."

"Uzumaki," speak of the devil. It was the teme Naruto was just talking to himself about standing directly in front of him. Naruto put the brakes on and stopped his momentum. "Today the day I finally beat your ass, Uzumaki," the boy arrogantly stated. The boy had silver colored eyes, and brown shaggy colored hair. He was wearing the exact same uniform Naruto had on. Only he had on the official blue colored school vast over his shirt. He was tall in comparison to Naruto's height, standing at a good 160cm tall, which was tall for a twelve year old boy.

"Ryosuke," Naruto commented in a deadpanned tone to the boy now known as Ryosuke. "I guess you want another round of your daily ass whooping," Naruto stated with a smirk on his lips. Naruto cracked his knuckles.

"Oh that's it Uzumaki," Ryosuke stated. But before Ryosuke had anytime to blink, Naruto struck him straight into his stomach. "Gwegh," Ryosuke grunted loudly. Naruto then smashed his elbow straight into Ryosuke's forehead, sending his rival crashing to the ground in immense fashion.

"Too easy," Naruto commented, smirking. "Aw, because of you I'm going to be late for school," Naruto once again begun running as fast as he could to get to school. "I SUGGEST YOU GET UP. YOU DON'T WANT TO BE LATE FOR SCHOOL NOW!" Naruto shouted over his shoulder at the downed form of Ryosuke.

"Curse you Uzumaki," Ryosuke growled out, balling up his hands into fists. "I will beat you someday... Uzumaki," Ryosuke steadily got up to his feet, holding his bruise ribs where Naruto hammer-punched him.

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**Karakura Middle School – With Naruto**

"OH SHIT! I'M SO LATE!" Naruto yelled, running straight up the stairs of his school, aiming to get to class. "I HOPE MISS RIKO DOESN'T GET MAD AT ME!" Naruto shouted, still running full pace towards his classroom.

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**Classroom – with the rest of the kids**

Naruto's teacher named Miss Riko, who had green hair tied back in a ponytail, and glasses on her face. She was wearing a red sweater top, a brown long skirt that reached her ankles and brown boots on her feet completed her appearance.

Miss Riko was holding what appeared to be a register in her hands. "Iwao Jun," she called out the name on the register.

The boy in the classroom raised his hand from his task, letting the teacher know of his presence in the room. "I'm here." He exclaimed in an impassive voice. He had white spiky hair shape in a downward hedgehog, big round brown orbs for eyes, and light skin. He was wearing a white shirt, grey trousers, and black sandals on his feet.

"Kurosaki Yuzu," Miss Riko called out, once some of the other kids were present in the room.

"Hmm," A girl hummed. She had short brown hair with short bangs hanging over the right side of her forehead. She was wearing a red hair-clip on the left side of her head. Her eyes were a brown color filled with innocent. She was wearing the traditional Japanese school uniform with a short skirt on. "Here miss," she raised her hand. Yuzu then looked over to the empty seat of her good friend Uzumaki Naruto. 'Where are you Uzumaki-kun,' Yuzu thought, the worry evident in her thoughts.

The girls' school uniform consisted of a light purple shirt with a yellow scarf-tie tied around their necks, a short purple, and simple sandals or shoes on their feet.

Yuzu's sister, Kurosaki Karin, who was sitting on the desk next to her one, was giving Yuzu a deadpan look. 'Ah, Yuzu-chan,' Karin thought with a silent sigh afterwards. She'd never understood why her sister Yuzu liked the dumb blond kid that was Uzumaki Naruto.

Karin had dark grey eyes and black hair that was straight and cropped to hang around her face just above her shoulders. Her eyes were large and dark. She was wearing the same uniform as her sister.

Finally after some students were registered in class, Miss Riko was on Naruto's name. "Uzumaki Naruto," she called out, but received no response because Naruto wasn't present in the classroom. Yuzu began to get worried. "Uzumaki Naruto" - The teacher called out.

Suddenly there was a loud scream coming from the direction of the door. "HAAAAAAAAAA!" That scream can only belong to one student just one...

"Uzumaki Naruto," Karin commented in a deadpanned tone, not noticing the big smile that crossed her twin sister's face when she mentioned the blonde's name.

Naruto then burst into the classroom. "UZUMAKI NARUTO IS ON TIME. HUFF!" Naruto panted heavily.

"No you're not on time. In fact, you're 15 minutes late, again," Riko stated in a deadpanned tone. Naruto rubbed the back of his sheepishly, while everyone except Yuzu, Karin and Jun laughed at him.

"Oh, sorry miss. I got into some...Trouble along the way," Naruto replied, choosing his words carefully.

"Oh!" Miss Riko replied with her hands on her hips. "You wouldn't have happen to have got in another fight with Kagoshima-san by any chance,"

"Yeah," Naruto answered truthfully and with a boastful smirk on his lips. "That bi... He continued, but quickly trailed off when the teacher glared at him. A glare that simply stated, 'mind your language young man'. "I mean, Ryosuke and I, had a nice talk about life," Naruto blushed from embarrassment from his obvious lie, earning himself yet more laughs from the kids in the classroom.

"Take your seat Uzumaki Naruto," Riko ordered. "We'll talk about this later," she dismissed him.

"Cool," Naruto responded, walking off to his desk, which was next to Yuzu's desk. "Ahhh," Naruto sighed quietly as sat down on his seat.

"Pfff," Yuzu whispered to Naruto from her dask. "You ok Uzumaki-kun?" Yuzu asked with concern coloring her voice

"Yeah," Naruto replied with a fox like grin. "Ryosuke-teme can't beat me."

"Ahem," Riko coughed twice into her hand to get Naruto and Yuzu's attention, seeing the two drifting off into their own world. Yuzu blushed while Naruto looked sheepish.

"We'll talk later," Naruto stated. Yuzu nodded at him. With that said Naruto and Yuzu both turned back to the direction of Miss Riko. Karin just shook her head at the two.

"So class," and so Miss Riko began to teach her class.

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**Two hours later**

The bell sounded, signalling it was the end of the class. The kids eagerly jumped out of their seats, while picking up their work off of their desks and proceeding to walk out of the classroom.

"Remember kids to finish the assignments I've given you," Miss Riko commented to the kids rushing out of the classroom.

"Um... Uzumaki," Yuzu shyly began, her cheeks turning a slightly pink color. "Do you want to go eat lunch with Karin and myself?"

"Yeah sure," Naruto replied, grinning. Naruto failed to notice Yuzu's cheeks colored in pink.

"Wait Uzumaki-san, I need to talk with you," Miss Riko stated, stopping Naruto's plans to eat lunch with the two Kurosaki girls in his tracks.

"Oh, ok," Naruto commented. "I'll catch up with you girls later."

"Alright then," Karin began with a shrug of her shoulders. "Let's go Yuzu-chan."

"Hmm," Yuzu hummed in response, taking one last glance at the blond before walking out of the classroom with her sister Karin by her side.

"What's up miss," Naruto asked, once all of the other students were out of the classroom.

"Naruto," the mention of his first name had the blond wondering. "I'm worried about you Naruto."

"What?!" Naruto sounded a little bit shock. "Don't be worried about me. I'm fine"

"Naruto," Miss Riko bent her knees down to the shorter kid's height and placed her hand on his shoulder. "You're always fighting with Ryosuke, failing to attend school on time because of your fights with Ryosuke."

"Yeah. That te"... Naruto quickly had to stop himself. "I mean that kid has it coming to him."

"Ahhhh," Miss Riko sighed heavily. "Naruto, you can't just handle everything with fists alone; because one day you're going to get hurt if you don't start using your brain more."

"Ahhhhhh," Naruto let out a loud sigh. "Ok miss. Can I go now?"

"Sure," Miss Riko stated with a kind smile. "Just be sure to head straight to class after lunch. You know how Mr S can be."

Naruto sighed. He hated Mr S. The blond believed that certain teacher had it out for him the most. "Ok" - Naruto spoke. Naruto then walked out of the classroom, shutting the door behind him. Miss Riko smiled, fully believing she'd made a different to Naruto.

"Argh," Naruto grunted after walking away from the classroom, feeling the frustration build up inside of him, just thinking about Mr S, who the blond called Doctor Scar. "Stupid Doctor Scar-teme. He's always out to get me." Naruto placed his hands into his pockets and began walking off to the rooftop so he could eat his lunch, which was a couple of sandwiches and a carton of apple juice his grandmother packed for him.

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**Rooftop – With Naruto**

"Stupid Doctor Scar-teme. One day I'll beat the shit out of him. One day," Naruto concluded to himself. Naruto sat on the floor of the rooftop and began digging into his lunch his caring grandmother prepared.

**Cafeteria - WIth Yuzu and Karin**

Both girls had made it to the cafeteria, and Yuzu didn't want to start eating until their friend Naruto showed up.

"Yuzu-chan," Karin began, speaking in her usual deadpan tone. "Will you just eat already. Not eating isn't going to make Naruto show up, you know?"

"Karin-chan," Yuzu commented. "We shouldn't eat until Uzumaki-kun arrives."

"Is he our friend or your crush?" Karin inquired flatly.

"Karin-chan," Yuzu's cheeks turned a slightly pink color. "We're just friends alright."

"Yeah, sure you both are." Karin exclaimed with sarcasm dipping into her voice. "Just eat already or I'll keep on teasing you about 'Uzumaki-kun'." Karin folded both her index and middle fingers down on both her hands to emphasis the sarcasm on the words, 'Uzumaki-kun'.

Yuzu's cheeks turned a darker shade of pink: "Karin-chan," she moaned and then began digging into her meal so her sister would stop teasing her about Naruto anymore.

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**One hour later – Classroom – With Yuzu, Karin and Ryosuke**

The kids returned to class. Yuzu and Karin walked into their classroom expecting to find Naruto, but instead only found his rival and somewhat best friend, Ryosuke.

"Ah Kagoshima-san," Yuzu greeted him with a smile and a nod. "Have you seen Uzumaki-kun anywhere?"

"Hmph," Ryosuke scoffed. "Pffft please, like I've seen that blond clown. I'm not his keeper."

"You are Naruto's best friend," Karin stated in a deadpanned tone.

"W-what!" Ryosuke stuttered. "GET REAL! Uzumaki isn't my best friend! We're rivals! There's a different, you know."

Karin shook her head: "Best friends, rivals, same thing to me."

"Hmph," Ryosuke turned his gaze from Karin. "It's not, okay."

"Hmm," Yuzu let out a worried hum; she knew Naruto hated this class because of Mr S. Out of all the students, Yuzu happened to know Naruto the most because his grandmother and her father were good friends. Yuzu even told Naruto about her brother Kurosaki Ichigo. To Naruto, the somehow lanky guy the way Yuzu described her brother Ichigo sounded a great man! A man Naruto would love to meet someday.

"Alright, settle down class," came the voice of the teacher that one could only assume was Mr S. All of the students sat in their seats almost immediately upon hearing Mr S' voice. Nobody would dare mess with the strict teacher other than Naruto. Yuzu worried, knowing Naruto would be in a whole lot of trouble soon enough.

"Ha. Serves Uzumaki right! That blond bastard," Ryosuke boasted with a smile on his face. That smile was immediately wiped off his face when Karin of all the people sent a glare that simply said, 'shut the hell up'. Ryosuke winced and immediately chose not to say anything else.

"Eh," Mr S wondered, glancing at all of his students present in the classroom. Mr S had light purple eyes filled enough menace to make anyone shit their pants just by looking at him. He was bald! He had a nasty looking scar starting from his temple going all the way down to his chin and he was also wearing glasses. So clearly the name Doctor Scar suits him well. He was wearing a black suit with a white undershirt, almost as if he was a secret agent rather than a teacher. "Hmmm," a devious smirk crossed Mr S' lips once he noticed Naruto wasn't present in the room.

"What the hell" - Karin wondered, seeing the obvious devious smirk on Mr S' lips.

"Alright class, take out your text books and start working," Mr S took off his black jacket. "I've got to step out the room for a minute," Mr S then unbuttoned his top button of his shirt, getting confused looks from anyone in the room. Mr S then stormed out of the room, leaving a bunch of flabbergasted kids to wonder what he was up to.

"That was weird," a boy commented in the classroom that Mr S stormed out of. "I wonder why he stormed out of the room for," he spoke, voicing everyone thoughts.

'Uzumaki-kun/Uzumaki/Naruto,' Yuzu, Ryosuke and Karin all simultaneously thought, knowing Mr S was intending to kick the shit out of the blond. All three of Naruto's friends were becoming increasingly worried for his safety.

* * *

**Rooftop - With Naruto**

The blond was sitting on the rooftop of the school without a care in the world. "Screw class," Naruto stated to himself. "Doctor Scar-teme will just fail me anyway," Naruto folded his arms across his chest. "I wonder why that teme hates me so much anyway. He's probably just jealous of my mad kung fu skills," for years Naruto had been training in the powerful kung fu art, the monkey fist! "I've got mad monkey skills." Naruto boasted.

* * *

**With Doctor Scar**

Doctor Scar was literally sprinting like his ass was on fire through the hallway as fast as he could, fully determine to beat the shit out of Naruto. "Mwhahahahahha," he let out an evil laugh. "Finally. I can beat the hell out of the blond boy!" Doctor scar laughed to himself, still running as fast as he could so he could beat up on the blond boy.

Will Naruto survive Mr S' beating?

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**Please make sure to always leave a review. I'm Flint009! And I'm signing off, peace!**


	2. The Power Within

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or Naruto**

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**Chapter 2**

**The Power Within**

"Aaaaahhhhh," Naruto stretched out his arms as he let out a yawn. "This is peaceful," Naruto lied back on the floor of the rooftop, looking up at the clouds and feeling himself drifting off to a nice slumber. "Nothing can disturb me up here!"

**BAMM!** The sound of the door leading to the rooftop slamming open got Naruto's attention. "So," Naruto narrowed his eyes, he knew exactly who had come bursting in. "Uzumaki Naruto. I take it you've decided to skip class," Mr S stated, his voice smooth and sulky.

"Doctor scar-teme," Naruto began. Naruto skilfully flipped up off of the ground. "I guess you're here to beat me up," Mr S' response was an evil smirk. Naruto smirked himself. "I see." The blond finished

"You have this coming...Boy!" Mr S declared, smirking a cocky smirk on his lips. "I don't know why the mental clinic hasn't locked you up yet," Mr Scar mocked.

"Funny," Naruto began, chuckling a little bit, "I was going to say the same to you, Doctor Scar-teme."

"Hehehe," Mr S chuckled in response: "Foolish boy" - Faster than Naruto could blink, Mr S immediately gripped him tight around his throat, digging his sharp eagle-like nails into Naruto's neck.

"W-what t-the...ARGH," Naruto grunted, feeling Mr S' nails slowly digging into his neck. "DAMN!" - Naruto's eyes soon widened in realization. "EAGLE CLAW!" Naruto realized the technique Mr S was using on him. Naruto quickly managed to bash Mr S' hand off of his throat.

Naruto jumped back, putting some distance between Mr S and himself. "Bastard!" Naruto held his throat, which had faint bleeding holes made by Mr S' sharp cat-like nails.

Mr S smirked: "Hehehehehehehe. Like I said, the mental house should have locked you up by now... Uzumaki Naruto. But seeing as they won't, I'll personally take it upon myself to beat the shit out of you."

"Yeah, dream on pal!" Naruto shot back. Naruto shipped into his monkey stance. His legs were bent by his knees and his hands were flapped in front of himself in open palms. "The monkey fist is stronger than the eagle claw! So you can't beat me."

"Hehehehehehe!" Mr S laughed in response. "Is that so," he smoothly asked. Mr S shipped into his eagle claw stance. His fingers were curled, like they were about to form a fist and left knee slightly extended upwards. "We'll just see about that… Uzumaki Naruto."

"We will. Doctor Scar-teme!" Naruto smirked: "I've been looking forward to kicking your ass for some time now!"

"Really, well, let's get to it than." Without warning, Mr S lunged in on Naruto with an eagle strike, aimed directly at his smirking face.

Naruto shook his head with a disappointing look on his face. "Too easy," Naruto commented, casually leaning his head to the side, letting Mr S' outstretched arm sail passed his head. "And I thought a master of the eagle claw would be better than this. Turns out I was wrong," Naruto quickly lifted up his knee, "HA!" With a yell, Naruto buried his knee straight into Mr S' stomach.

"ARGHHHHHHH!" Mr S grunted loudly, being force to spit out a mouthful of blood from the immense force Naruto packed into his knee drive. "STUPID BOY!" Mr S stated harshly and loudly. Mr S quickly countered with a sharp, fast, ferocious head-butt, which connected straight between Naruto's eyes!

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! TEME!" Naruto felt the blood trickle down his forehead. Clearly it was busted open from the fierce strike of Mr S' head-butt. "TAKE THIS!" Naruto called out as he bought his forearm up to Doctor scar's head and drove it into his face, shattering the mad teacher's glasses on impact!

"GWEGHHHHHHHHHHH!" Mr S cried out in pain, feeling his own blood spill out of his forehead from Naruto's blow. "I'LL KILL YOU. YOU STUPID BRAT!" Mr S had completely lost his temper with the blond spiky hair boy. Mr S threw his shattered glasses off of his busted open face. "URGH! "Mr S angrily growled out as he simultaneously lunged in on Naruto with a fast round-house punch, intending to knock his head off of his shoulders.

"Too slow," Naruto grabbed Mr S' arm in an firm grip. "**UZUMAKI FLIP!"** Naruto called out as he half turned his body and flipped Mr S over his back, sending the scarred man crashing to the floor with a tremendous amount of force.

"ARGHHHHHHH!" The blood spat out of Doctor Scar's mouth. His entire body ache with an unbelievable amount of pain after being smashed to the floor by Naruto, 'GWAH! He's stronger than I thought' Doctor Scar's eyes widened, realizing this kid was on a whole other level to most fighters he'd fought before.

"Heh," Naruto laughed as he rubbed the bottom part of his nose with his index finger. "I guess you're no match for me, Docter Scar-teme. I'm just too strong for you."

Mr S looked up at Naruto with a scowl on his face. "COCKY BASTARD!" Mr S shouted with serious rage evident in his voice. Mr S lifted up his leg and kicked Naruto in the place where no man wanted to be kicked.

"OWWWWWW!" Naruto winced loudly, holding his private parts where Doctor Scar hit him. "TEME! DON'T YOU HAVE ANY PRIDE! YOU CAN'T JUST HIT PEOPLE IN THE BALLS!"

Mr Scar sat up and picked up a brick off of the ground. "Shut the hell up," He coldly says. Mr S then aimed to strike Naruto hard with the brick in his hand.

"WHOA!" Naruto's eyes widened. This teacher didn't want to simply beat him up, he wanted to kill him!

Naruto, thinking quickly, ducked underneath Doctor Scar's arm, successfully avoiding Doctor Scar's blow. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!" - Naruto asked, the frustration and anger evident in his voice. Naruto nailed an uppercut straight into Doctor Scar's abdomen!

"GWEGH!" Mr S grunted loudly, being force to spit out saliva from his mouth from the force Naruto put into his uppercut. Mr S, realizing he still had the brick in his hand, used it to bash Naruto over his head before the blond could jump back.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Naruto screamed in pain, being force to the ground from the immense force of Doctor Scar's blow! Doctor Scar didn't stop the assault there, using the same brick he used to bash Naruto down to the ground; Doctor Scar once again smashed Naruto on his back, the brick actually shattered on impact from the immense force Mr S used to smash Naruto with it.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Naruto screamed loudly, his back soaring with unbelievable pain after being hit hard by the brick Doctor Scar used.

"I'll beat you like I'm your dad... Boy!" Mr S fiercely sneered out while lunging in on Naruto with a big stomp, intending to break the blonde's back!

Naruto, reacting quickly, cleverly rolls out of the way, avoiding Doctor Scar's stomp. The dust rose up around Doctor Scar's leg. Naruto jumped up to his feet, "**Jumping monkey!**" Naruto called out as he jumps used, stuck out a leg and implanted his foot straight onto Doctor Scar's chest!

"AAAAAAHHHHH!" Mr S grunted loudly, spitting out blood as well as being thrown back from the ferocious force Naruto packed into his monkey kick. Naruto chased after the soaring Mr S. "Gwegh," Mr S grunted softly as he felt himself bounce off of the unforgiving concrete a few times before bouncing to a stop. "Damn... Kid," Mr S choked out, his words sounding strained from the pain he was feeling. Mr S steadily got up to his feet and before he'd anytime to launch a counter attack, Naruto was on him again.

"**Driving Monkey**!" Naruto called out as he drove his fist directly at Doctor Scar's face. Doctor Scar countered by spinning on his heel, going all the way around Naruto, just about avoiding his driving monkey. Doctor Scar seized his chance. He grabbed the back of a wide open Naruto's head and fiercely implanted the blonde's face straight into the wall. "ARGHHHHHH!" Naruto cried out in pain, feeling his warm blood run down his forehead from the force Mr S used to smash his head into the wall.

Naruto, a little dazed from being smashed into the wall by Mr S, managed to put some distance between them. "Huff, huff, huff," the blond panted heavily, the blood just oozing out of his forehead. The blond looked like shit and Mr S didn't look any better than him.

* * *

**Meanwhile - Inside of the Classroom - With the Rest of the Kids**

It'd been a whole twenty minutes since the teacher, Mr S, eagerly took off his black blazer jacket, unbutton his shirt and stormed out of the classroom like he was planning to give someone a good ass kicking. Most of the children were idly chatting amongst themselves, and all of them came to the conclusion that Mr S ran out of the classroom to beat follow classmate Uzumaki Naruto senseless. Most students had to admit, they felt a little sorry for the blond, even just a little. Mr S was not the man you want to mess with.

"I wouldn't underestimate Naruto-san," Karin spoke to her friend whose name was Kako. Kako had just explained to Karin that she believed Mr S was giving Naruto a real ass whooping, however, Karin disagreed. "Naruto is strong," Karin stated, getting a look of debrief from Yuzu in the process. Yuzu never imagined her sister had that amount of faith in Naruto.

"Karin-chan," Kako replied, looking astounded. "I never knew you'd that much faith in Naruto."

Karin gave Kako a deadpan look, "And what are you implying. That I have some sort of fan-girl crush on Naruto, huh?"

"No," Kako began, shaking her head. "It's just weird that you of all people would show faith in Naruto. I guess it just feels like you have a crush on him."

"Well I don't," Karin replied, feeling irritated for having to state that she doesn't have a crush on Naruto.

'Hmmm,' Ryosuke hummed in thought, and with his hands balled up into fists, 'Serves Uzumaki right! This will teach him for acting like he's some hard man. I only wish I could be the one to pound him into the ground,' Ryosuke finished with a devious smirk on his lips. He wouldn't dare say this out loud, not after Karin glared at him.

'Uzumaki-kun,' Yuzu thought, the worry evident on her pretty face as she stared at the window like she'd see Naruto fly through at any given minute now. 'Please be ok. I couldn't bare it if anything happened to you, Uzumaki-kun,' Yuzu then noticed a drop of blood fall down on the outside of the window, coming from the direction of the rooftop. Yuzu's eyes widened, knowing the rooftop was usually the place where Naruto hung out. "UZUMAKI-KUN!" Yuzu suddenly stood up from her desk and called out loudly for Naruto, getting worrying looks from all of the other students around her.

"Yuzu-chan?" Karin muttered out to her twin sister, staring wide eyed at her sister like she'd just gone mad.

"Uzumaki-kun is in trouble," Yuzu stated, surprisingly serious. Yuzu, without warning, shot straight out of the classroom, determined to save Naruto.

"YUZU-CHAN!" Karin called out to her retreated sister. "DAMN IT!" Karin jumped up off of her seat and ran after her sister Yuzu.

"KARIN-CHAN, YUZU-CHAN!" Kako shouted worriedly to the two girls that'd run off.

"What's up with them," a boy whose name was Mitsuo asked, voicing everyone thoughts.

"Those stupid girls," Ryosuke stated harshly. Ryosuke stood up determinedly, "I'm going after them." Ryosuke then stormed after the two girls. All the other kids' eyes widened in shock, but none of them dared to chase the three friends, and instead chose to simply get on with their work.

In the meantime, Yuzu was running as quickly as possible in order to rescue her good friend Naruto, followed by Karin and Ryosuke close by. "YUZU, WAIT UP ALREADY!" Karin shouted, surprise at how fast her sister was running. Yuzu was running faster than a fat lady wanting to pig out in an all you can eat restaurant. "YUZU!"

"UZUMAKI-KUN'S IN TROUBLE. I CAN JUST FEEL IT DEEP WITHIN ME!" Yuzu yelled back while continuing to run full pace. Yuzu quickly turned a corner, slammed open a door and begun sprinting up the stairs as quickly as possible.

"Damn it! Yuzu! Uzumaki will be fine!" Ryosuke stated to the running form of Kurosaki Yuzu. The boy was still wondering why he'd even bothered to chase after the two girls in the first place.

They weren't his girls. They were Naruto's.

"Ryosuke!" Karin looked shocked to why he was even there in the first place. "What are you doing here? I thought you hated Naruto."

"Look, don't take this the wrong way or everything. I just can't stand back and watch two girls get hurt. That's not my style." Ryosuke coolly stated.

Karin gave him a sarcastic smile, "Really! Funny, I never would have figured you for the pervert type, Ryosuke."

"S-shut up!" Ryosuke stuttered out, turning pink from the embarrassment he was feeling.

Karin laughed at him just as Yuzu went through the door of the rooftop. "Uzumaki-kun!" Yuzu cried out and her eyes widened when she spotted Mr S with his hand around Naruto's throat, pressing the blond up against the wall while continuing to beat up on the blond-boy. "Uzumaki-kun! Please Mr S, stop hurting Uzumaki-kun."

"Y-Yuzu," Naruto managed to choke out through the pain of being choked to the point his vision was starting to fade. Ryosuke and Karin also came running onto the rooftop, their eyes also widened upon seeing Naruto in a bloody and battered state. "K-Karin-c-chan, R-Ryosuke-teme," Naruto stuttered, still trying to pry Doctor Scar's hand off of his throat.

"NARUTO! MR S! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HIM!? LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Karin shouted, demandingly.

"UZUMAKI!" Ryosuke shouted, shocked to see his long-time rival and friend looking like he'd been put through the ringer.

"Go back to class kids. I'll be there in a minute once I finish beating on this good for nothing blond kid," Mr S stated, through heavy breaths. He too was battered and bruised from his fight with Naruto.

"NOOOOOO!" Yuzu ran at Mr S, ignoring Ryosuke and Karin's words telling her to stop, "LEAVE UZUMAKI-KUN ALONE!" She pleaded with tears flowing off of her pretty face. "STOP HURTING HIM!" Yuzu reached Mr S and grabbed his arm, desperately trying to pull it off of Naruto's throat.

"Y-Yuzu," Naruto stuttered out.

"STUPID GIRL!" Doctor Scar stated angrily, while violently shrugging off Yuzu.

"AAAAHHHHH!" Yuzu screamed as she went flying back from the momentum of Doctor Scar's shrug. Yuzu hit the hard ground with a thud.

"YUZU!" Naruto, Karin and Ryosuke all shouted worriedly for Yuzu's wellbeing. Their eyes widened to what they'd just witness.

"YOU BASTARD!" Karin shouted, running over to her sister and helping her up.

"SHUT UP!" Mr S stated harshly, looking over his shoulder at the two Kurosaki girls. "I don't need to be distracted from giving this brat a beating he deserves," Mr S turned his head back to Naruto. "AHHHH!" He gasped seeing Naruto's body engulfed in an orange energy of some sort, "W-What a-are y-you?" Mr S stuttered out, the fear beginning to build up inside of him seeing the energy around Naruto's body twirl around him violently.

"U-Uzumaki-kun," Yuzu muttered out, hardly believing her eyes to what she was seeing. Naruto's whole body was covered in some sort of orange aura, "W-wow", Yuzu looked closely at the blond and noticed his eyes were overshadowed by the bangs of his hair.

"Uzumaki," Ryosuke whispered softly. Even he, was at a loss for words seeing the strange energy around Naruto's body.

"The same power as before," Karin whispered quietly to herself, too quiet for anyone to hear, clearly she'd saw this power coming from Naruto before.

"YOU BASTARD!" Naruto shouted, lifting up his head to reveal his hard cerulean blue eyes. Mr S gasped, unknowingly letting go of Naruto's throat. "HOW DARE YOU HIT YUZU!?" Naruto angrily stated. Naruto wasted no time going on the attack, cocking his fist back; Naruto lunged in on Doctor Scar with a powerful right hook that connected straight into Doctor Scar's face.

"ARGHHHHHHHHH!" Doctor Scar cried out in pain, the force of the blow not only split open his nose, but also sent him skidding backwards at a rapid pace.

"AHHHH!" Yuzu, Karin and Ryosuke all gasped an inhuman amount of air, witnessing Naruto's strength, their eyes popped out of their heads and their jaws were hitting the ground.

"Unbelievable, Uzumaki," Ryosuke commented softly to himself, too softly for anyone else to hear.

'It's exactly the same power as the day we were saved by that mystery man. Where is it coming from?' Karin asked herself as stared at Naruto in shock and awe.

"Uzumaki-kun," Yuzu whispered, just as the orange aura around Naruto's body dissipated and the blond began to wobble. "UZUMAKI-KUN," Yuzu shouted, running over to Naruto and catching him before he fell over. "Are you ok?" she asked, after wrapping her arm around Naruto's waist and putting the blonde's arm over her shoulder so she could support him.

"Y-Yeah, don't worry about me those," Naruto commented. Naruto failed to notice that Yuzu was blushing a deep crimson red once she noticed how close they were. "Are you ok, Yuzu," Naruto asked with a kind smile on his face.

Before Yuzu could answer, someone interrupted her. "Hey, what's going on up here?" It was the head master's voice. Karin and Ryosuke immediately froze up. "I heard shouting coming from up here," he stated, walking onto the rooftop into Naruto, Ryosuke, Yuzu, and Karin's line of vision.

"H-head m-master Harou," Karin stuttered to the man now known as Harou. Harou was an old man with grey hair going around the side of his head; the top part of his head was completely bald. He was wearing a full grey colored suit with a white undershirt, red tie, and black shoes on his feet.

"What happened here?" Harou asked, noticing the unconscious form of Mr S and a battered Naruto by Yuzu's side.

"Pffft, that crazy teacher Mr S was attacking Naruto," Ryosuke snorted, sounding nonchalant.

Harou's eyes widened: "This true?" He asked, to which Naruto nodded in confirmation: "I see," Harou closed his eyes, taking his time to gather his thoughts. Naruto, Ryosuke, Karin and Yuzu all look at him expectantly: 'I suppose, I can let this slide,' Harou concluded to himself, deciding to be lenient with them, after all, kids will be kids.

However, Mr S would've to receive a good talking to when he wakes up. "Alright," Harou reopened his eyes, "I've decided to let you all off with a warning."

"Phew," came the sighs of relief from Naruto, Yuzu, Karin and Ryosuke.

"Yuzu, Karin. Take the rest of the day off and take Naruto-san to your father's clinic," Harou stated.

"Of course," Yuzu replied back and Karin just nodded.

"What about me? Don't I get any time off?" Ryosuke asked with a scowl on his face.

"No," Harou stated simply. "Now go back to class, young Ryosuke-san"

"Awww," Ryosuke moaned, "That's not fair," he finished with his scowl deepening on his face.

"Hahahahahaha. You have to stay in school. I guess you should fight the teacher, you may get to leave early," Naruto commented and Karin bashed Naruto over his head with her fist. "Ow," Naruto rubbed the lump on his head. "Why'd you do that for?"

"Idiot, don't push your luck," Karin stated with a scowl on her face. Naruto and Yuzu sweat drop.

With that said and done Naruto, Yuzu and Karin left school and made their way to the Kurosaki clinic, so they could attend to Naruto's wounds.

* * *

**Elsewhere in Karakura town**

Somewhere near the graveyard, laid a small candy shop, and within said candy shop lived four people that went by the names of Urahara Kisuke, Tessai, Jinta and, Ururu. Jinta and Ururu were two small children, which were outside sweeping the floor. Well, one was anyway. Jinta, who had red hair, wore a white t shirt, blue shorts and brown sandals on his feet, just couldn't be bothered to do work.

"Aaaaah," Jinta yawned. The boy was lying on his side, resting his head on his hand, looking uninterested.

"Um... Jinta-kun," A shy timid girl spoke. Ururu was a young-looking girl with a perpetual blush on her cheeks who wore a white t-shirt with the Urahara Shop logo in pink print and a knee-length, pink skirt with white dots. She had round purple eyes and long, black hair with a purple tint. It was parted down the middle, with two strands of her bangs in the middle of her face, opposing each other. The rest of her hair was in pigtails with pink ties. "You need to do your chores."

"Shut up Ururu!" Jinta yelled angrily. Jinta jumped up from his spot and began grinding his fingers into Ururu's temples!

"OW! JINTA-KUN, THAT'S HURTS!" Ururu cried out.

"JINTA!" A huge man yelled menacingly behind the red hair boy bullying Ururu. Tessai was a tall, muscular, lightly tan-skinned man. His hair was cornrowed and he had a large handlebar moustache, which was connected to his long sideburns. He was wearing a pair of rectangular-shaped glasses. His attire consisted of a white muscle shirt with regular pants and a blue apron. "What are you doing, young Jinta-dono," he concluded with a hint of rage evident in his voice.

Jinta froze up, "I-I'm," he nervously stuttered out, feeling beads of sweat rapidly pouring off of his face. Tessai grabbed him and lifted him up into the air. "HEY, LET ME GO!"

"Do your chores, Jinta-dono," Tessai ordered, putting the red haired boy down and ushering him forward. Jinta scowled at Tessai before picking the broom and proceeding to sweep up.

Urahara Kisuke, who was standing in front of the shop, sighed heavily at the scene before him. Kisuke was a tall and lean-built man with light skin and grey eyes. His hair was messy and light-blond (almost pale) with strands framing out the sides of his face and hanging between his eyes, and he also had chin stubble. He was wearing a dark green shirt and pants, topped with a black coat with a white diamond pattern along its bottom half. His coat's design looked like the opposite of a captain's haori (white with black diamonds). Urahara had also been known to carry a fan which he uses to occasionally hide his face. He was also wearing traditional Japanese wooden sandals (geta) and a striped-dark green and white bucket hat that usually shadowed his eyes.

"It's time," Kisuke spoke, getting Tessai's attention. "The boy's spiritual pressure spiked not too long ago."

"Will you be training him, Urahara-dono?" Tessai asked.

"Hmm," Kisuke hummed in thought. "Maybe," he answered.

"You are a wise man, Urahara-dono," Tessai complimented, "He'd be very proud of you for taking care of the boy."

"Really." Kisuke replied with his trademark big grin. "Well, I'm just a mere humble shopkeeper." he took out his fan and covered the lower half of his face.

Tessai, Ururu and Jinta, all felt the sweat just drop off of the back of their heads at Kisuke's antics.

"Right," Kisuke nervously said, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. "I'll go get the boy then," they all slowly nodded as Kisuke began making his way to Naruto's location.

* * *

**With Naruto, Yuzu and Karin**

The three had made their way to the Kurosaki clinic owned by Karin's, Yuzu's, and Ichigo's father, Kurosaki Isshin. A long the way, Naruto and Karin saw a spirit, both had glanced at each other, clarifying they'd saw the same thing and that they would talk about it later. Naruto and Karin couldn't understand why they could see spirits and others couldn't. Karin had spoken to her father about it and he just trailed off on something else, and ended up being hit by Karin for acting like an idiot. Ichigo had spoken up in Karin's defence and clarified that he too could see spirits, which just left more questions needing to be answered.

Like, why couldn't Yuzu and the others at Naruto's and Karin's school see spirits? All this supernatural stuff was very confusing to Karin and Naruto. Yuzu, because she couldn't see spirits, just assumed Karin and Naruto were staring dreamily into other eyes when they'd glanced at each other moments ago. After a stutter from Naruto and deadpan look from Karin, Yuzu quickly drop the matter. Deep down she was glad her sister didn't have a crush on Naruto.

"Ok," Karin spoke up, walking in front of Naruto and Yuzu so she could open the door to the clinic. "Let's get those wounds stitch up Naruto."

"Hmmm, this is the first time I've been to your house," Naruto commented, staring at the clinic in awe. "Not too shabby!"

"I'm glad you like it Uzumaki-kun," Yuzu exclaimed, smiling.

"Hey!" Karin began, sounding impatience. "You have plenty of time to stare at our house. But right now, getting you stitch up is the utmost important thing."

"Right," Naruto replied with a nod. Naruto, Yuzu, and Karin all walked into the clinic. "Not a bad looking place," Naruto complimented. Suddenly Naruto saw someone flying at him like a soaring missile.

"YOU'RE EARLYYYYYYY… ICHIIIIIGOOOOO!" Isshin shouted as lunged in on Naruto with a ferocious flying kick.

Naruto sweat dropped, was Isshin for real? And did he just call him Ichigo? Naruto pushed these questions a side for later as he was forced on the defence by the man that was obviously on crack. "WHAT THE HELL!" Naruto angrily shouted, grabbing the soaring Isshin's leg. "You can't just attack people and call them by different names," Isshin looked shocked. Naruto then slammed Isshin to the floor with a fierce slam.

"Serves you right, old man," Karin commented in a deadpanned tone and with her arms crossed over her chest, looking at the downed form of her father.

"N-Naruto-san," Isshin realized he made a mistake. "Sorry, I thought you were my son, Ichigo."

Isshin was a tall muscular man with spiky black hair and brown eyes. He had thin facial hair around his mouth and on his cheeks. He was wearing a orange Hawaii shirt with red dots all over said shirt and a white lab coat over his shirt. He had on black slacks and black sandals on his feet completed his appearance.

"WHAT!" Naruto responded, sounding shocked. Did Isshin really think he was a lanky kid with orange hair!? Supposedly, at least that was what Yuzu told him. Ok, it was official, Isshin was on crack, and he must be. "Are you high old man?!" Naruto had to ask.

Isshin jumped up, and without a scratch on him, even know he was slammed to the floor by Naruto. "HAHAHA" - Isshin laughed with his hands on his hips. "YOU'RE GOOD NARUTO! I NEVER EXPECTED YOUR REFLEXES TO BE SO SUPERB!"

**BAMM!** Karin smashed her father straight into his chin with an uppercut. "Shut the hell up, old man," Karin began with a vein popping out of her cheek. "Can't you see Naruto injured? We're here to get him stitched up. I'm sure Naruto-san doesn't want you to go on about nothing, like you usually do."

Naruto felt the sweat drop off of the side of his face. Is this how they always acted? Now, that was just creepy. Karin doesn't usually hit her father when she, Yuzu and he go shopping with Naruto and his grandmother Tomoyo. Well, maybe that was because Isshin acted a little more sensible around his grandma.

"Hmm," Yuzu hummed in agreement with her sister. "Naruto got into a fight with Mr S."

Isshin rubbed his chin where Karin punched him: "Hmm," he hummed as crossed his arms over his chest, obviously deep in thought about something.

"IT DOESN'T MATTER!" Naruto declared, loudly. "I FINALLY MANAGED TO KICK DOCTOR SCAR-TEME'S ASS! I'M A HAPPY KID!" Naruto shouted loudly, earning himself yet another punch to the back of his head from Karin. "Ow,"Naruto winced as rubbed the back of his head where Karin hit him. "…Karin-chan."

"Yeah, and you almost 'never' got yourself expelled in the process, dumb-ass," Karin stated, the sarcasm evident in her voice.

"Karin," Yuzu spoke. "Uzumaki-kun's hurt. We shouldn't be making it any worst," Yuzu exclaimed. Karin just shrugged her shoulders. "Come on Uzumaki-kun," Yuzu tugged on Naruto's sleeve: "Let's go put some bandages on those wounds of yours."

"Ok Yuzu-chan" - Naruto replied, grinning. Naruto and Yuzu then walked off to the treatment room so Yuzu could treat Naruto's wounds.

"Awwww," Isshin began, with a waterfall of tears flowing from his eyes. "My Yuzu-chan's in love."

Karin bashed Isshin over his head with her fist: "SHUT UP OLD MAN! It's not love; it's just a crush, alright!"

Isshin rubbed the lump that appeared on his head: "Awww, is my little Karin-chan jealous of Yuzu-chan," Isshin reached for the buttons on his shirt. "DON'T WORRY SWEETIE. DADDY MAGNIFICENT CHEST WILL COMFORT YOU!" Isshin suddenly ripped open his shirt, showing off his chest and proceeding to lung in on Karin, intending to brace her in a hug.

**WHAMM!** Karin responded by slamming her foot straight into Isshin's face. "ARGHH!" - Isshin grunted loudly, falling hard onto the floor from the force Karin packed into her kick. "Why," Isshin had a waterfall of tears pouring from his eyes: "MASAKIIIIIIIIIII! OUR DAUGHTER IS SO MEAN TO ME!"

"Ahhhhh" - Karin sighed at the mention of her, Yuzu and Ichigo's deceased mother. "Old man…" - she whispered in a deadpanned tone, knowing crying wouldn't bring their dear mother back as much as they want it to.

* * *

**At Karakura High School – With Ichigo **

"Aaaaah," Ichigo lazily sighed as looked out of the window of his classroom. Ichigo had orange spiky hair. He was also a fairly tall, lean-built young man with peach skin and brown eyes. Ichigo was wearing a white shirt, tucked into his grey jeans, and brown shoes on his feet. 'Another spirit,' Ichigo noted, seeing a spirit floating in the air. Why was it that only he could see spirits? Orihime couldn't see spirits, or Chad. So, why could he see spirits, why he so special?

_Ring, ring._ The bell sounded, signalling it was the end of school. "Alright, I'll see you all on Monday - The teacher commented to the already walking away students, who were most eager just to get out of school.

Ichigo stood up from his desk and tucked his chair into his desk.

"YOOOOO, ICHIGOOOOOOO!" Came the loud voice of Ichigo's other friend not mentioned, whose name was Keigo. Keigo was a teenager with medium-long brown hair that flipped outward. He had brown eyes and a slim figure. He was also wearing the same uniform as Ichigo, only he had on a green jacket. "WHAT'S HANGING...? ICHIIIIIGOOOOOO!" Keigo lunged in on Ichigo, intending to wrap his arm around Ichigo's neck.

**BAMM!** Ichigo drove his fist straight into Keigo's face, stopping Keigo from clinging to his neck. "ARGHHHHHHHHH!" Keigo let out an over exaggerated grunt as he fell to the ground from Ichigo's punch. "ICHIGOOOOOOOOO!" Keigo yelled with a waterfall of tears pouring from his eyes, "WHY, ICHIGO, WHY?!"

"Because you're annoying, Asano-san," came the deadpan reply of Ichigo's other friend Mizuiro. Mizuiro had short black hair and green eyes, parted down the middle with a stray bang in his face and the tips fanning out. He looked very young and wore the Karakura uniform with the jacket zipped up.

Asano Keigo jumped to his feet, looking annoyed: "I WASN'T TALKING TO YOU!"

"Ahhhh," Tatsuki, another one of Ichigo's friends, sighed heavily while walking over to Ichigo. "Hey Ichigo, do you want me to walk you home?" She asked, after walking over to Ichigo. Tatsuki was a teenager of average height with black hair and blue eyes. Tatsuki was boyish, and had a very lean frame compared to Orihime's curvier figure. Her hair was short and dark, kept spiked out at the sides in tune with her less than feminine appearance.

"Sorry, I've got something to do," Ichigo stated, knowing he promised a spirit he'd go see her.

"Oh," Tatsuki understood this must be something important. "Ok Ichigo-kun, see you tomorrow," she left it at that.

"Hmm," Ichigo walked out of class, not noticing his other friend Inoue Orihime's worried look.

'Um... Kurosaki-kun.' Orihime thought, the worry evident in her thoughts. Orihime was a teenager of average height. She had brown eyes and long, waist-length burnt orange hair. Her most noticeable physical trait was her slender yet curvaceous figure for a teenager, especially in terms of her large breasts. She wore her hair in bangs tucked behind her ears with hairpins. Orihime, like Tatsuki, was wearing her school uniform, which consisted of a grey blazer jacket, white undershirt, and a short skirt. 'I hope you'll be alright... Kurosaki-kun,' Orihime finished, hoping the boy she cared for deeply would be ok.

Kurosaki Ichigo proceeded to make his way out of school and ventured to the place he promised to see the spirit child. Then afterwards, he'd make his way home, where he'd meet Uzumaki Naruto for the first time. Little does Kurosaki Ichigo know he would need Uzumaki Naruto's power and vice versa for Naruto, for the future battles that surely lie ahead for the two.

* * *

**Elsewhere around Karakura town - In some park – with a Black haired woman**

Suddenly the sky ripped open, revealing a door of some sort. No one down below could see the Senkaimon up in the sky, or the short woman, who wore a black shihakushō and blade sheathe to her side walking out of the Senkaimon and gracefully landing on the ground. The Senkaimon then disappeared without anyone seeing it.

"Hmm," the short woman hummed to herself, obviously in thought. She was short and petite; she had light skin, violet-colored eyes and black hair, with several strands of hair always hanging between her eyes. She was wearing a standard shihakushō.

"Alright," the woman began. "I best get to work here. Last thing I want is nii-san thinking I can't do a simple patrol job," the woman began walking, with no one even aware of her presence, almost as if she were a ghost. "Hmm, now where would be"... The woman trailed off when she sensed an incredible amount of spiritual pressure coming from the clinic Naruto was at. "What the hell," the woman's eyes were widening from the shock of sensing such immense spiritual pressure, "Such fierce spiritual pressure! If I'm not mistaken, that spiritual pressure almost as strong as captain-Zaraki's! I'd better go check this out," the woman then began making her way towards the clinic.

* * *

**With Yuzu, Naruto and Karin**

"All done!" Yuzu commented, putting the last of the bandages on Naruto. "Try and be more careful next time Uzumaki-kun. I don't want to see you get hurt!"

"Thanks Yuzu! And I'll try," Naruto assure her, grinning.

Karin looked tense and serious about something. "Yuzu," Karin began, getting Yuzu's attention. "Would you please give Naruto and I a minute alone," she asked politely enough, but she received a confused look from Yuzu in the process.

"Why Karin-chan?" Yuzu asked, glancing at Naruto to see the blond giving Karin a blank stare. "I know" - Yuzu snapped her fingers together. "You two are having a love affair together, right. Admit it?" Yuzu's right cheek puffed up.

'I like the sound of that,' Naruto thought to himself.

"Y-Yuzu, I-its n-not l-like that," Karin stuttered. 'No way, I stuttered!'

"Hmph," Yuzu scoffed, "Then why are you stuttering your words."

"Yuzu," Karin began, inhaling and exhaling a deep breath to recompose herself. "It's about today, you know."

"Ah," Yuzu was taken back from the seriousness evident in her sister's voice and in her eyes. Yuzu glanced at Naruto to see the blond also looking serious like her sister. "Ah," Yuzu sighed, "okay, I'll give you two some space to talk."

"Thanks, Yuzu-chan," Naruto commented, grinning. Yuzu blushed a little before walking out of the room. Taking one last glance back, Yuzu slowly closed the door, giving Naruto and Karin the privately they need to discuss the matter that needs discussing. "So, what's up Karin-chan?"

"It's about that power you used earlier, and everything else. You know what I'm talking about, right?" - Karin asked in a low tone.

Naruto went serious: "Yeah," the blond narrowed his eyes. "I suppose it's like this"…

And so the blond and Karin began their discussion on the matter.

* * *

**I'm done. Please review. It keeps me motivated.**


	3. Shinigamis and Hollows

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or Naruto**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**The monsters known as hollows and the warriors that vanquishes them.**

Karin and Naruto both let their minds wonder back, to that strange day where Naruto had first released his energy, and that same day when they were both saved by some mystery man.

**_Flashback - Two months ago._**

_It was a peaceful afternoon in Karakura town. Naruto, after finishing school was rushing to his favorite place, Wataru's ramen shop._

_"Ramen, ramen" - The blond hummed happily to himself, while still in his school uniform. Clearly the blond just wanted to eat ramen and then go home later. Naruto also happened to wearing his favorite orange jacket. "I CAN'T WAIT! I'M TOTALLY GOING TO PIG OUT ONCE I GET TO WATARU'S RAMEN SHOP!" Naruto shouted loudly, still running full pace so he could stuff his face full of delicious noodles._

_"What" - Naruto wondered to himself, seeing someone he recognized walking along the pavement. "KARIN-CHAN!" Naruto yelled happily, recognizing the person instantly. "Whoa" - Naruto exclaimed to himself, staring at Karin like she was the most beautiful thing in the world. With the orange sky and the setting sun as Karin's back drop. 'Whoa! Karin-chan's hot!'_

_"Huh," Karin wondered in her usual deadpanned tone. "Hey! What are you looking at!?" Karin spoke, demandingly._

_Naruto's eyes drifted down Karin's body, her nice body, her curvaceous body. 'WHOA' - A big grin crossed Naruto's face. Naruto's eyes then made their way down to her legs, those sexy legs of hers. Karin was wearing her school uniform with the traditional Japanese short skirt on. 'Hmmmmmm, legs.'_

_Karin, deadpanned: "Hey! Don't you have anything better to do besides from staring at me like a horny dog" - Before Karin's very eyes, Naruto just vanished like the wind. "What" - Karin's eyes widened! How could Naruto just vanish like that? That was impossible! Maybe he wasn't there! Yes, that must be it. What-else was there? He couldn't have just vanished like that. That was just crazy._

_"Hey Karin," Karin flinched when she heard Naruto's voice coming from behind her. "Nice skirt!" Naruto complimented, smiling. Naruto then grabbed hold of the back of Karin's skirt and lifted it up, revealing her white nickels, "White panties! Awwww, I was hoping for orange. Orange is kind of my thing."_

_A vein popped out of Karin's head: "ARGHHHHH! YOU PERVERT!" She turned and delivered a devastating hay-maker of a slap straight into Naruto's face._

_"ARGGHHHHH!" Naruto grunted loudly, the force of the blow sent him crashing to the ground with a thud. "I don't care what anyone says. Your slaps are definitely the hardest Karin-chan." Naruto complimented as rubbed his face where Karin slapped him, still having a big, dopey grin on his face_

_"Ahh," Karin sighed in a deadpanned tone, fed up with Naruto's pervert ways. Karin crossed her arms over her chest and turned away from the blond who was on the floor._

_"Awww," Naruto jumped up to his feet and strolled over to Karin. "You're not mad at me, are you?" Naruto wrapped his arm around Karin's shoulder._

_"Mad? Why would I be mad for? Even know you just lifted up my skirt, of course I'm not mad at you" - Karin replies, sarcastically._

_"Oh that's good" - Naruto responded, grinning. "I wouldn't want my Karin-chan to be mad at me, ditto."_

_"WHAT!" Karin shouted, turning red from the anger she was feeling. "Since when'd I become, "your Karin", and take your hands off me" - Karin violently shrugged Naruto's arm off of her shoulder._

_"Aw. Come on, don't be mad at me," Naruto pleaded with his hands placed together as if he were about to perform a pray. "It's just that you're so hot, I couldn't help myself."_

_Karin merely looked at him, keeping that deadpanned expression written all over her face. 'Geez, he lifts up my skirt because he thinks I'm hot. Geez! What does Yuzu see in this pervert I'll never know' - Karin turned around and glared at the blond pleading for her forgiveness. "Alright Naruto I'll" - Karin began but was quickly silenced when she and Naruto heard a primal roar._

_"URGHHHHHHHHHH!" Came the loud monstrous roar that'd interrupted Karin._

_"What the hell was that?" Karin pondered, looking around for the source of the roar._

_Suddenly Naruto spotted something sneaking up from behind Karin. "WATCH OUT KARIN-CHAN!" Naruto warned loudly, receiving a confused look from Karin in the process. Before Karin had anytime to question Naruto about his warning, the blond immediately tackled her down to the ground just as some strange looking claw tried to slash her to pieces._

_"N-Naruto," Karin stuttered, not quite sure what to make of being tackled to the ground by Naruto. "Why'd you do that for? Did you just want to feel... Karin began to rant, but her voice trailed off when she spotted a huge, bear-like monster in front of her. "W-What is that" - Karin's eyes widened staring at the creature in front of them._

_"GRRRRRRRRRRRR!" - The creature roared loudly in response, making Naruto and Karin cover their ears from the noise. The creature was huge! Standing at least 20ft tall, his skin was pitch black, his body was shape like a bear and just to complete his scary appearance; he had a bone white mask on his face, "TIME TO EAT! FILL MY BULLY WITH YUMMY SOULS!"_

_"What!" Naruto exclaimed, his eyes widened hearing the creature say it was time to eat. "WHAT ARE YOU!?" The blond yelled, demandingly._

_"GRRRRRRR! IT DOESN'T MATTER, BECAUSE I WILL EAT YOU BOTH UP!" The creature yelled back with sheer venom in his voice._

_Naruto glanced over at Karin to see the slightly shorter girl trembling with fear. "Karin-chan" - Naruto wrapped his arm around Karin's shoulder. "Don't worry; I'll protect you from whatever this thing is."_

_Karin looked up at Naruto through her widened eyes, "Ah, N-Naruto…" she softly said, staring into Naruto's eyes filled with nothing but determination and confidence._

_"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" - The creature laughed loudly in response. "As if a mere human could defeat me! You're as good as dead little man!"_

_"Heh" - Naruto let out a little chuckle in response. "I CAN GUARANTEE YOU THIS, UGLY! AND THAT'S YOU WON'T BE COMING ANYWHERE NEAR KARIN-CHAN WHILE I'M AROUND" - Naruto stated, his eyes were taking on an overshadowed look._

_"OH" - The creature wondered, "YOU CHALLENGING ME BOY? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! OK, LET'S PUT THAT THEORY TO THE TEST" - The creature suddenly just disappeared from their sight, almost as if he was the wind itself._

_"AH" - Karin gasped, witnessing the creature's vanishing act. Suddenly the creature reappeared within a second lunging in on Karin with a straight right claw. Karin's eyes widened, not because the creature was lunging in on her, but because Naruto had somehow stepped in front of her and blocked the creature's attack with his bare hands, "Narutooooo!" Karin screamed worriedly for Naruto, noticing the blood trickling down the blonde's arms._

_"WHAT!" The creature's eyes widened in surprise, "H-He C-Can keep up with my Sonido... Impossible! You're no normal human!"_

_"ARGHHHHHHH!" Naruto grunted loudly, struggling to push the creature back. "I TOLD YOU, I WON'T EVER ALLOW YOU TO HURT KARIN-CHAN!" An orange energy began surfacing around Naruto's body._

_"W-What the hell!" Karin asked in complete shock, staring wide eyed at Naruto. 'His body is covered in some sort of energy? Naruto, what are you?'_

_"WHAT!" The creature commented in shock. 'His spiritual pressure just went through the roof' - The creature thought this as Naruto began pushing him back with all his might. 'He's strong! But, it seems like he doesn't know how to control his spiritual pressure. That's good for me, because, I WILL EAT HIM NOW AND GAIN THAT POWER' - The creature managed to fight his claw from Naruto's grip, "GIVE ME YOUR POWER!" The creature bashed Naruto straight onto his head._

_"AAAAAHHHHHH!" Naruto screamed in pain, the force of the blow sent him crashing towards the ground at a ferocious pace. "Damn it!" Naruto's head had been busted open from the force of the creature's attack._

_"Naruto" - Karin placed her hands on Naruto's shoulders. "Are you alright?"_

_The creature licked his lips: "I MUST EAT YOU NOW AND GAIN THAT POWER OF YOURS!"_

_Karin growls: "You monster!"_

_The creature rubbed his hands menacingly together: "I MUST FEED OFF YOU NOW, AND BECOME EVEN STRONGER! MWMWMWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"_

_Karin held Naruto tight to her body, "No, you won't be eating Naruto."_

_"LET ME AT HIM!" Naruto yelled, struggling to escape from Karin's hold. "I AREN'T SCARE OF HIM! DITTO!"_

_"NO NARUTO, YOU'RE HURT! WE'VE GOT TO RUN!" Karin stated loudly, trying to drag Naruto away as hard as she could._

_The creature's eye twitched: "FOOLISH HUMANS!" The creature then decided that enough was enough. The creature lunged in on both Naruto and Karin, determined to eat Naruto and gain his strength. Karin's eyes widened, she tried to push Naruto out of the way, but ended up being surprised when Naruto threw her to the side._

_"NARUTOOOOO!" Karin screamed after being thrown to the ground by Naruto, out of the way from the creature's attack. In that moment, Karin feared for Naruto's life, the creature was just inches away from Naruto. His mouth wide open, ready to swallow the blond whole!_

_"WHAT!" The creature suddenly screamed in shock. Someone had appeared from literally out of nowhere, grabbed the creature's arm and forcefully pulled him away from Naruto. "YOU!" The creature sneered angrily to the person who was dressed in an all-white cloak to conceal his identity._

_"W-what," Naruto and Karin muttered in unison. Naruto had just been saved from some random person who came out of nowhere. "WHO ARE YOU!?" Naruto shouted at the person holding the creature back with ease._

_The person merely nodded at Naruto. He then vanished along with the creature he was holding, like a hot candle being put out, leaving a battered Naruto and a bewildered Karin, alone._

* * *

**End of Flashback.**

"Ow!" Naruto grabbed hold of his head and began nursing the lump that appeared. It seemed Karin became fed up with their retail of that strange day, and bashed Naruto over his head with her fist. "What was that for?!"

"That was for lifting up my skirt that day, pervert" - Karin replied, scowling at Naruto.

Naruto sweat dropped: "O-oh yeah, sorry about that," He responded with a sheepish grin.

"Anyway," Karin's cheeks lightened up with a pink gross, "That was really sweet of you, the way you wanted to protect me," Her words softened too. Naruto looked at Karin in debrief! Was she really thanking him? She must love him! Naruto was sure of it. "Thank you, Naruto," Karin smiled fondly at the blond wrapped up in bandages. That was it, Naruto was 100% sure Karin-chan loved him now.

A big cheeky grin crossed Naruto's face, "NO WORRIES KARIN-CHAN! YOU WOULD HAVE JUST GOT YOUR ASS WHOOPED WITHOUT ME! YOUR LOVING BOYFRIEND!"

Karin's eye twitched: "SHUT THE HELL UP" - Karin smashed Naruto straight into his face with a fierce slap. "I was only thanking you for protecting me! So don't take it the wrong way or everything, idiot - Karin exclaimed, glaring at the blond who was massaging his face where she slapped him.

Karin turned around and made her way to the door. "Oh, and I'll forgive you about the skirt thing, so-long as you never do it again, you got that! Otherwise, if you do it again, something bad may happen to you!" - She warned before marching out of the treatment-room, leaving Naruto alone.

Naruto rubbed his face where Karin slapped him, still having a big grin on his face despite being slapped into next week. "Yep, she loves me" - Naruto threw himself back onto the bed. "AAAAAHHHHHH! I wonder what Yuzu-chan's got cooking!? Hehehehe, she said she likes to cook! I think I need to go try some of her cooking! I hope she makes ramen!" Naruto has a waterfall of drool pouring from his mouth; just thinking of Yuzu making him ramen was enough to make his stomach start craving for his favorite meal of all time..."RAMEN!"

* * *

**Kitchen/living room - With Yuzu**

Yuzu had walked out of the patient room, giving Karin and Naruto some privately to "talk", apparently. Yuzu had to wonder if her sister Karin and Naruto were really just talking in that room. Yuzu would hate to think if Karin and Naruto were really talking about a secret relationship they have going on. Yuzu even scare herself to know how jealous she was feeling just at the thought of sister Karin and Naruto in a relationship. But then again, Karin was her sister; she should be happy for Karin whoever she chose to date. However, the brown haired girl, deep down just wouldn't allow herself to come to terms if Karin and Naruto ever became couple.

Her father, Kurosaki Isshin immediately saw the stress and worry on her face, and rushed over to comfort her in his usual crazy, hyperactive fashion. After Yuzu sweat-dropped, her father dropped to his knees and crawled over to the poster of her dead mother, crying his eyes out while muttering something that sounded like, "Masaki, our kids mistreat me so much". Yuzu pattered her father on his back and walked into the kitchen to prepared dinner for her family and Naruto.

'It's been about 20 minutes since I left Uzumaki-kun alone with Karin-chan" - Yuzu assessed to herself while cutting up some carrots for dinner. 'I hope everything ok' - The worry was evident in her thoughts.

The sound of marching footsteps got Yuzu's attention. "Stupid Naruto," the sight rage in Karin's voice made it clear to Yuzu that she was angry, "The nerve of him! I'm glad I put him in his place" - Karin concluded. Karin sat down by the kitchen table.

Just by those words, her raging sister spoke, Yuzu felt at peace. She knew right there and then her sister Karin wasn't in a relationship with Naruto, nor did she have a crush on him, meaning Naruto was Yuzu's for the taking.

"You okay sis? Want me to get you a glass of orange juice" - Yuzu asked with a sweet smile on her face.

"No thank you" - Karin shook her head at her sister. "Why are you so happy all of a sudden?"

"Oh it's nothing." Yuzu replied back to her still with that sweet smile on her face. 'Just that you can't get Naruto-kun now,' Yuzu thought with her fist held up right and the sparkling stars around her face.

"O...K" - Karin hesitantly replied back to her triumphant sister. 'Has the whole world gone insane or something.'

_Knock, knock._ There was a faint knocking sound coming from the direction of the door. "HAHAHA! I'LL GET IT!" Isshin shouted with his hands on his hips. "IT'S PROBABLY AN OLD SCHOOL MATE OF MINE!"

Karin, deadpanned: "Then go get it already, old man."

"HAHA!" - Isshin laughed as he ran over to the door. "WELCOME FRIEND!" - Isshin greeted to the person at the door, before he even opened it to see who it was first. Isshin opened the door. "AH!" He gasped once he saw who had come to his house.

"Ah Isshin-san, I see some things never change" - Kisuke greeted with a big goofy grin on his face.

"YOU!" Isshin pointed happily to Kisuke. And Karin and Yuzu both raised their eyebrows from where they were standing.

* * *

**Walking down the street with Ichigo **

The orange haired man was making his way to the place where he promised to see the spirit child.

Ichigo had one hand in his pocket as he held his other hand up. In Ichigo's hand appeared to be a pot of flowers.

'I sure hope no one's bothering that girl's grave' - Ichigo thought, he'd kill everyone who dared to disrespect the dead.

"WOOOOOO!" The sound of a loud cheer bought Ichigo out of his thoughts. "I'm too sick!" The boy cheered to his other friends. The three boys suddenly came riding on skateboards alongside the pavement where the spirit girl's memorial stone was.

**Smash!** One of the boys knocked over and shattered the spirit girl's memorial stone in two. "Woops, I broke that stone!" The boy commented, sounding like he didn't care.

"Who cares" - His friend replied back to him. "It's just a dumb memorial stone."

Ichigo was furious! How could those boys be so cold heartened? "Bastards!" Ichigo muttered under his breath. Ichigo ran straight at the boy who broke the memorial stone. Cocking his fist back, Ichigo let fly with a ferocious round-house punch that connected straight into the boy's face.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" The 15 year old boy cried out in pain. The force of Ichigo's blow sent him crashing off of his skateboard, hitting the floor with a thud.

"AH" His other two friends gasped in shock. "Benjirou-san!" They both called out worriedly to the boy who was one bombed down to the ground by Ichigo. "WHO ARE YOU?!"

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Ichigo ferociously shouted, making both boys wince when they heard the tone of voice he used, "HOW DARE YOU KNOCK OVER THAT MEMORIAL STONE!? YOU BASTARDS BETTER FIX IT NOW OR I'LL LAY ALL THREE OF YOU ASSHOLES DOWN FOR THE COUNT!"

The three boys were literally shitting their pants! Just from Ichigo's words and by looking into his eyes, those brown eyes filled such intensity the devil himself would ran away scare of Ichigo. The three boys immediately ran into the shop, next to the memorial stone, bought some glue then some tape, ran back outside, and put the broken pieces of the memorial stone back together.

"Sorry sir," the three boys all begged in unison, and with a waterfall of tears falling from their eyes.

"Good!" Ichigo responded belligerently, "Now get the hell out of here!"

"OK!" The three boys pick up their skateboards and ran as fast as they could, determined to get away from Ichigo before he decided to kill them.

Suddenly a little girl appeared, floating off of the ground and looking more like an illusion than an actual person. "Thank you mister" - The little spirit child thanks Ichigo.

Ichigo smiled: "No problem" - Ichigo walked over to the spirit child, kneeled down to her level and gently patted her on her head. "As long as you're happy, then I'm happy."

The little girl blushed: "Thank you Mister. Will you be coming back here tomorrow?"

"Of course" - Ichigo responded. Ichigo then placed the pot of white flowers he'd in his hand, by the memorial stone of the spirit child.

"The flowers are really nice Mister. Thank you for coming to see me every day" - The little girl commented.

"There's no need to thank me" - Ichigo replied. "I believe anybody needs a friend."

"Yeah" - The little girl replied. Ichigo and the spirit child then turned around and begun watching the sun set. It was such a peaceful afternoon in Karakura town, so peaceful in fact; Ichigo didn't think that anything could bother them. How wrong he was!?

Little does Kurosaki Ichigo know, his life is about to take a drastic turn of events.

* * *

**Kurosaki Clinic **

"Urahara Kisuke" - Isshin cheered loudly, wrapping an arm around Kisuke's shoulder, "How have you been my old friend?!"

"Good, good" - Kisuke replied back. "My business is going good as usual hehe," Kisuke took his fan and covered the lower half of his face.

Yuzu and Karin felt a bead of sweat drop off of the side of their faces at the man's antics. 'Good grief. He's just as bad as the old man' - Karin thought with a deadpanned expression written all over her face.

"Hahahaha" - Isshin let out a goofy laugh in response. "That's good my friend. So, what brings you here to the home of the KUROSAKI'S!?"

"I'm here on official business. You know what I mean, right?" - Kisuke suddenly put a serious exterior. This had both Karin and Yuzu raising their eyebrows.

Isshin went serious: "You mean, Naruto-san."

Kisuke nodded: "Yes. It's about time I took him under my wing. In fact, I've been meaning to train the boy for some time now."

"Wait! Hold up!" - Karin marched over to Urahara. "What do you mean you've been planning on 'training' Naruto? Who are you?"

Kisuke smiles: "Ah! Isshin, this must be your lovely daughter."

"Well, duh! Of course I am. But enough about that, tell me who you are, and what do you want with Naruto?" Karin asked, demandingly.

"Karin-chan," Yuzu spoke up. "You shouldn't be so rude to the guests."

"Well excuse me for noticing some weird guy with a walking cane wanting to train Naruto" - Karin began, shaking her head. "If that's not weird, then I don't know what is."

"Hmm" - Yuzu hummed in response. "Yes, but maybe he has got a good reason for doing what he's doing."

Karin, deadpanned: "Yeah, like what."

"Uhmm" - Yuzu didn't have a clue to why this strange man dressed in green would want to train Naruto.

"I thought so" - Karin commented with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Now ladies" - Kisuke began with a big goofy grin on his face. "I can assure you that I haven't come here to kill Naruto. I've only come here to train Naruto."

Karin glared at Kisuke: "And how do we know that, huh? We can't just trust a complete stranger so willingly!"

Isshin tapped Kisuke on the shoulder: "He's not a complete stranger, Karin-chan. In fact, he happens to be one of my best friends. I'd even go as far as to say he's my brother! So, that makes Kisuke your uncle."

"OOOOOO! I didn't realized I'd an uncle with blond hair" - Yuzu commented in awe.

"Seriously" - Karin said in a deadpanned tone. "Whatever old man" - Karin shook her head.

"HEY!" The sound of Naruto's voice got everyone attention. "What's with all the noise in here? Can't a guy get some sleep without being disturbed?" - Naruto concluded as he rubbed his left eye, trying to wipe the sleep out.

"Uzumaki-kun" - Yuzu called out to the approaching Naruto.

"Hey Yuzu-chan, what's cooking? I hope its ramen. Hehehehehe" - Naruto exclaimed, grinning.

"Good grief," Karin began as she sat back in her seat near the dinner table. "Is that all he ever eats?"

"Ah, Uzumaki Naruto I'd presume" - Kisuke began. Naruto looked at Kisuke with confusion written all over his fact, "Mine, mine, mine. It seems someone got their ass whoop today," Kisuke once again took out his fan and covered his big smile.

"HEY!" Naruto angrily shot back. "I whooped Doctor Scar-teme's ass today! And"... Naruto began to defend himself but quickly trailed off, having realized Kisuke mentioned about his fight with Mr S. "How'd you know about my fight with Doctor Scar-teme. Who are you old man?"

"Me?" - Kisuke responded with a fake confused expression written on his face. No one was buying into it those. "Well, I'm just a mare humble shopkeeper."

"Yeah right!" - Naruto replied with his eyes squinted.

"Haha!" - Kisuke nervously laughed in response. "Well actually Naruto, I've come here to train you. You see, you have a power hidden deep within you and I'm here to help you unlock that power."

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest: "Uhmm" - Naruto clearly had no idea to what Kisuke was taking at. "By power...You mean I'm strong... Right?"

Kisuke sweat-dropped: "Y-Yeah" - Kisuke straightened his composure. "Naruto-san, have you ever felt a strange energy source leaking out of your body?" - Kisuke asked and Karin and Yuzu both raised an eyebrow. This man may just know about that weird energy that'd come from Naruto when the blond fought Mr S.

"E-Energy" - Naruto muttered with a squinty face. "Oh, I know what you mean! You must be talking about that energy that came out of me earlier! - Naruto all but yelled out. "How do you know about that power old man?"

"Yes" - Karin nodded in agreement with Naruto. "That's something I would like to know as well. How is it that you know all of this?"

"Hmm" - Yuzu hummed in agreement.

"Well my blond spiky headed friend" - Kisuke began, smiling. "That is something we call spiritual pressure or reiatsu."

"Spiritual pressure?" - Naruto muttered. "What's that?" - he inquired, voicing Karin and Yuzu thoughts as well.

"Come with me and all will be explained" - Kisuke stated. "I promise you'll gain cool new superpowers."

Naruto's eyes had stars in them: "Superpowers" - Naruto mumbled out with a big grin on his face, "ALRIGHT! I'LL TOTALLY GAIN EVERYONE RESPECT WITH COOL NEW POWERS!" - Naruto shouted. "But wait! How will I know you won't just kill me?"

"I won't" - Kisuke shook his head. "I made a promise to a friend of mine that I would take care of you. When the need arise is."

"Oh, okay" - Naruto walked over to Kisuke. "THEN LET'S GO SHADOW EYES!" - Naruto declared, referring to Kisuke as shadow eyes because Kisuke's eyes were consistently being overshadowed by his hat. Kisuke just smiled at the nickname given to him by Naruto.

"Wait, Uzumaki-kun" - Yuzu called out. "You're really going to go with him?"

"Yeah!" - Naruto responded, grinning. "I can't wait! I'm going to get really strong! Just watch me!"

"Very well then," Karin spoke, deadpanned, "Have fun", she flicked her hand in a gesture of goodbye to Naruto.

"HAHAHAHA" - Naruto laughed loudly. "I'm totally going to get really strong!"

"Be careful Uzumaki-kun" - Yuzu commented with concern coloring her voice.

"MY DAUGHTER YUZU-CHAN IS SO THOUGHTFUL OF HER FRIEND NARUTO-SAN" - Isshin exclaimed loudly, making Yuzu blush slightly. "DON'T WORRY SWEETIE DADDY'S HERE TO COMFORT YOU!" - Isshin lunged in on Yuzu.

**WHAMM!** Karin jumped up from her seat and drove her foot straight into Isshin's face with a fierce round-house kick. "ARGGHHH!" Isshin grunted loudly, the force of the blow sent him hurling backwards in immense fashion.

"Well," Kisuke waved his fan in front of himself. "I'll make sure not to get on your bad-side."

"Stupid old man, we're not babies anymore" - Karin stated. "Good luck anyway Naruto."

"Thanks Karin-chan" - Naruto commented. "Oh, and can one of you phone my grandma Tomoyo. I don't want her worrying about me."

Isshin jumped to his feet. "No don't worry I'll phone your grandma for you Naruto!" - Isshin exclaimed with his hands on his hips.

"Thanks crazy-man" - Naruto thanks Isshin. Naruto then turned to Kisuke. "Ok, let's go shadow eyes."

"Hmm" - Kisuke hummed in response. Kisuke and Naruto then strolled over to the door, opened it, walked out and closed the door behind them. Yuzu watched Naruto closely, right until the blond had shut the door.

'Uzumaki-kun…' Yuzu thought with worry, 'Please be alright.'

"Yuzu-chan," Karin began as if reading her sister's mind. "Naruto will be fine," Karin placed her hand on Yuzu's shoulder. "Trust me on that one."

"Ok" - Yuzu replied back.

"HAHA! My Little Yuzu-chan's growing up so fast!" - Isshin shouted. "This is what your loving papa is here for, to offer you advice on relationships!"

A tick mark appeared on Karin's head: "Shut up old man" - Karin slammed her fist straight into Isshin's head, making Isshin's head snap back from the force she packed into her punch. "Like anyone would take advice from an old pervert like you anyway."

"Masakiiiiiiiii" - Isshin had a waterfall of tears pouring from his eyes - "Why does our daughter mistreat me so bad!?"

"Because you're an idiot" - Karin stated in a deadpanned tone. Yuzu felt the sweat drop off of the side of her face.

* * *

**Walking down the street - With Kisuke and Naruto**

The two were making their way to the Urahara shoten. The sky was a nice orange color, signalling the day was coming to an end.

"Whoa" - Naruto spoke, staring at the sunset in awe. "So bright!" Naruto commented.

Kisuke fanned himself with his fan: "Yeah, it is quite bright isn't it?"

"So shadow eyes," Naruto began. "What sort of things will you be teaching me?"

Kisuke went serious: "Would you believe me if I told you, that I'm going to teach you how to awaken your shinigami powers?"

Naruto's eyes widened: "Shinigami powers," Naruto muttered. "What's that?"

"Well Naruto, a shinigami is-" Kisuke began to explain, but was quickly interrupted by a loud shout.

"Uzumaki!" - Ryosuke shouted, seeing Naruto walking along the pavement with some odd man wearing an all green kimono and as well as holding what appeared to be a cane in his hand. "You think you're so big because you got to leave early!"

"Yeah, so" - Naruto shot back. "You're just jealous because I knocked out the teacher" - Naruto had a boastful smirk across his lips.

"You only got lucky because that bastard teacher knocked Yuzu down!" Ryosuke exclaimed, scowling at Naruto. "So don't get cocky you little midget."

"Who are you calling a midget!?" - Naruto shot back, glaring at the much taller boy, "Just because you're taller than me, teme! And besides, I'll still kick your ass despite you being taller."

"Uzumaki," Ryosuke angrily growled out, his face turning red from the anger he was feeling. "That's it" - Ryosuke lunged in on Naruto.

**BAMM!** Naruto easily countered Ryosuke's attack and slammed the back side of his fist straight into Ryosuke's face. The force of the blow sent Ryosuke crashing to the ground!

"Sorry about that teme. Shadow eyes" - Naruto said to Kisuke as pointed to the downed form of Ryosuke.

"Oh, that's quite alright. After all, kids will be kids" - Kisuke stated.

"Yeah. So, what's a shinigami again?" - Naruto asked, getting back to the point before Ryosuke interrupted.

"Shinigami" - Ryosuke muttered. Ryosuke jumped up to his feet and walked over to Naruto's side. "You mean as in death god."

Kisuke smirked: "I see you know about the shinigamis."

"WHAT! HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS THING!?" - Naruto asked, his eyes going blank.

Ryosuke smirked: "Maybe because you're an idiot."

"WHAT WAS THAT, YOU TEME?" - Naruto yelled back.

"You heard me. You little midget" - Ryosuke commented.

"ARGHHHHHHH!" - Naruto angrily sneered. "Ryosukeeeeee!"

"Naruto-san" - Kisuke tapped Naruto on his shoulder. "We're on our way to awaken your shinigami powers. There's no need for fighting...At least not yet" - Kisuke had a grimace in his eyes.

"WHAT!" Ryosuke shouted, his eyes popping out of his head. "Uzumaki! You never said you were going to become a shinigami!"

"Heh," Naruto let out a little cocky laugh in response. "What's wrong? Jealous much?"

"Urghhhhh!" - Ryosuke muttered out. "Hey! Bucket hat, train me too! I want to become a shinigami as well."

"WHATTTTTT!" - Narutoo shouted. "You can't become one too!"

"Sure, why not" - Kisuke commented. "Naruto-san could use someone to train with."

"Hehe" - Ryosuke laughed at the soaking Naruto. "Watch me Uzumaki. When I become a shinigami, I'll destroy you!"

"Yeah, keep dreaming!" Naruto shot back with a smug look on his face.

"Now then," Kisuke tapped the floor with the bottom part of his cane. "Let's head to the shop, shall we. I'll explain how you're both going to become shinigamis and what you will do once you both become shinigamis."

Naruto and Ryosuke both nodded and with that said all three continued on their way to the Urahara shoten. So Naruto and Ryosuke could begin their training to awaken their shinigami powers.

* * *

**Kurosaki household – With Ichigo**

Ichigo was only a few seconds from his home. He'd spent most of the day with the spirit child, talking about his school life, his friends and just things in general with the spirit child. The spirit child was very pleased and happy Ichigo came to visit her, being a spirit can be very lonely with only a handful of people aware of the spirits' presence. And those people would usually be too freaked out at the sight of a spirit to begin a normal conversation. Ichigo couldn't help but feel sad for the wondering spirit. The orange haired man only wished that all spirits could pass onto the afterlife and find peace.

'Well, I guess that's not my problem' - Ichigo concluded. Ichigo reached the front door of his home. 'So-long as they're happy' - Ichigo reached for the doorknob, turned it and opened the door up. "Ah, I'm home everyone" - Ichigo greeted his family with a sigh.

Isshin flew at Ichigo with his leg extended outwards. "YOU'REEEEE LATEEEEEEEEEEEE… ICHIGOOOOOOOOOOOO!" - Isshin implanted his foot straight into Ichigo's chest!

"GWEGHHHHHHH!" Ichigo grunted loudly, the force of the blow sent him flying back outside.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" - Isshin laughed in response. "YOUR REFLEXES ARE GETTING SLOW, ICHIGO! NARUTO WAS A WHOLE SHARPER TO REACT TO MY SURPRISE ATTACK!"

"What the hell!" - Ichigo angrily muttered. A vein popped out of Ichigo's head: "IS THAT ANYWAY TO GREET YOUR OWN SON!" - Ichigo marched over to his dad, grabbed him by the front of his collar and fiercely implanted him straight into the ground. "Stupid old man!"

"They are at it again, sis" - Karin commented with her hand on her cheek, looking uninterested.

"Oh Nii-chan," Yuzu greeted her lanky, orange haired brother after Ichigo was finished beating up on Isshin. "Guess who came around today. Yep, it was Uzumaki-kun! Isn't that great!?"

Ichigo looked down at his smiling younger sister with his usual scowl on his face. "Ah, good for you Yuzu" - Ichigo then walked off to his room.

"Ohhhhh, nii-chan" - Yuzu's right cheek puffed up, feeling a little frustrated her older brother didn't want to hear about Naruto, who to Yuzu, was one of the cutest, coolest guys in their school. Yuzu sighed heavily and went back to preparing dinner for her family.

* * *

**Ichigo's room – With Ichigo**

Ichigo made his way towards his bedroom. "Ah," He sighed as he slowly opened the door leading to his bedroom. "What the hell," Ichigo commented to himself. Right there in his room appeared to be a woman dressed in an all-black shihakusho and with a blade sheathe to her side. "Who are you?" Ichigo scowled at the woman who had effectively sneaked into his house, unnoticed.

* * *

**Urahara shoten - with Naruto, Ryosuke, and Kisuke**

"Ahhhhhh. Finally!" - Naruto commented loudly. The three of them had finally made it to the Urahara shoten. "NOW I CAN BECOME A SHINIGAMI!"

"Ow, stop it Jinta-kun that hurts!" - came the cries of agonizing pain from Ururu.

"This will teach you for whining all the time!" - Jinta stated, pulling on Ururu's hair.

Ryosuke and Naruto both narrowed their eyes, who did that punk ass kid think he was picking on girls. "THAT'S IT!" - Ryosuke ran straight at the red headed boy bullying Ururu, "HEY YOU LITTLE PUNK-ASS BITCH!"

"Huh," Jinta wondered. Jinta turned his head to the side to be greeted by a ferocious round-house punch by an enraged Ryosuke. "ARGHHHH!" Jinta grunted loudly, the force of the blow sent him crashing to the ground with a thud.

"That will teach you for picking on girls. Seriously, where's your honour" - Ryosuke growled out at Jinta, who was holding his cheek where Ryosuke one bombed him.

"W-What's it to you, you big jerk" - Jinta moaned out, his words sounding a little strained from the pain he was feeling.

"Pffft, whatever" - Ryosuke stated. "You okay there?" Ryosuke turned to Ururu with a kind smile on his face.

"Um...Yes" - Ururu shyly stuttered out. "You didn't have to be so rough on Jinta-kun those."

"Pffftt, whatever. The kid had it coming" - Ryosuke coolly exclaimed as he placed his hands into his pockets. Jinta scowled at him, but didn't risk saying anything in response.

"For once, we agree," Naruto commented, walking over to where Ryosuke was standing. "This kid totally had it coming for picking on a girl."

"What's with you self-righteous guys suddenly showing up" - Jinta said.

"What's that kid? You say you wanna another beating" - Ryosuke cracked his knuckles

"No," Jinta added fearfully.

"I thought so," Ryosuke replied, smirking.

"Pussy," Naruto said under his breath, but Jinta heard him and scowled at him.

"Well, well, well" - Kisuke began. "Isn't this such a lovely site." He said rhetorically.

"Ah, Urahara-dono you're back" - Tessai spoke as he walked out of the store.

"Uzumaki," Ryosuke whispered to Naruto. "That guy's huge!"

"Yeah, no kidding" - Naruto whispered, equally surprised as Ryosuke to see such a huge man.

Tessai looked at both Naruto and Ryosuke: "I take it one of them is Uzumaki-dono?"

Kisuke tapped Naruto on his head. "This is Naruto," Kisuke ruffled the blonde's hair. "The other one here is Ryosuke. I will train both of them to awaken their shinigami powers."

"I see, Urahara-dono" - Tessai commented.

"But first. What exactly is a shinigami and how will we become one?" - Naruto asked.

"Dumb-ass," Jinta said under his breath.

"What was that?" - Naruto asked Jinta.

"Nothing" - Jinta replied, he wouldn't want to receive another ass-whooping like the one he received from Ryosuke's hands.

"Let us go inside and discuss the matter," Kisuke commented. Ryosuke and Naruto both nodded and followed Kisuke into the store so they could finally learn what a shinigami was.

* * *

**Back with Ichigo**

"Who the hell are you?" Ichigo growled at the woman standing in the middle of his room as if she owned the place. The woman ignored him. "Hey! I'm talking to you!" - Ichigo growled at the woman, angry at being ignored.

'Can he see me' - The woman thought before shaking her head. "No, of course he can't see me... It's near."

A vein popped out of Ichigo's forehead. "Near my ass, retard!" Ichigo slammed his foot straight into the woman's back-side, making the woman fall over from the force Ichigo packed into his kick. "You're a pretty confident burglar!" Ichigo stated loudly, pointing his finger at the woman. "'By it is near... do you mean that like the safe is near or something!?"

The woman felt beads of sweat drop off of her face like a falling waterfall. "Y...You can see me...? I mean to say, did you just kick"...

"Huh?" - Ichigo wondered before the woman could finish. "What the heck are you talking about? Of course I can see you"...

Isshin suddenly came bursting into Ichigo's room. "Be quiet Ichigo! Don't make a ruckus on the second floor!"- Isshin drop-kicked Ichigo straight into his back.

Ichigo turned around and smacked his dad straight into his face with a ferocious punch. "You be quiet! How can I not make a ruckus?" Ichigo yelled. "Look at this woman! What the heck is going on with the security system in this house?" Ichigo ferociously inquired.

"Hmm?" - Isshin responded with general confusion written all over his face. "What do you mean look... look at what... I'm out of here." Isshin walked out of Ichigo's room, leaving Ichigo bewildered to why his dad couldn't see the woman standing in front of him.

"It is not possible for ordinary men to see me," The woman pondered the thought by rubbing her chin.

"Who are you?" Ichigo yelled, demandingly. "And why couldn't my dad see you!"

"I am a shinigami," the woman calmly says, ignoring Ichigo's tone of voice.

"Shinigami," Ichigo repeated as if he didn't hear right the first time.

The woman nodded: "Yes, and I've come from a place called the soul society, otherwise known as 'heaven' to you humans." The woman explained. "Furthermore, I've come here to exterminate evil spirits."

Ichigo crossed his arms over his chest, keeping a scowl look on his face: "So, you're a shinigami. And you've come from a place called the soul society, to exterminate evil spirits," Ichigo began in a steady tone, as if he was mocking the woman. "Ok! I'll believe you!"

Spontaneously Ichigo grabbed a table and threw it towards the woman. "Hell no, like I would believe that, you retard!" Ichigo shouted with a tick appearing on his head. The woman was confused to why Ichigo didn't believe her; she quickly managed to roll out of the way of the table thrown at her by Ichigo.

"You...You can see ghosts, but you do not believe in the existence of shinigamis" - The woman sounded shocked.

Ichigo's narrowed his eyes: "Of course not! Unfortunately, I've never seen a shinigami," Ichigo admitted. "I don't believe in things I can't see" - Ichigo stated: "Dad couldn't see you so I'll acknowledge the fact that you're not human. However, quit the shinigami crap. Got it, you little brat!"

The woman smirked: "You have spewed nonsense" - her voice suddenly become smooth and sulky. The woman immediately aimed her two fingers at Ichigo: "**first restraint obstruction!"**

Ichigo's eyes widened. His arms suddenly twisted themselves around his back as if they were commanded to do so. "Ow, Ow, Ow, Ouch!" Ichigo screamed in pain as he fell face first to the ground. "Y...You!" Ichigo growled out at the woman. "What'd you do to me?"

The woman placed her foot on Ichigo's back-side. Ichigo scowled at the woman, promising himself he'd kill her later for this. "You cannot move," the woman noted. "This is a kido spell and it's an advanced incantation only shinigamis can use!" - The woman smirked: "Even though I look like this, I have been alive almost 10 times longer than you have. And you dare to call me a little brat" - An amuse grin crossed the woman's lips. "Usually, I would kill fellows like you, but spiritual law states that one cannot kill humans they have not been ordered to kill."

A vein popped out of Ichigo's cheek as the woman continued: "I will have to be content with just sealing your movements. So, give thanks you little brat."

**Smash!** The sound of a wall exploding got both Ichigo and the woman's attention. "What the hell was that?" - Ichigo shouted.

"Grrrrrrrrrrrr!" As if answering Ichigo's question, there was a primal roar. Ichigo instinctively flinched hearing the monstrous roar coming from downstairs.

"That's a hollow!" - The woman stated to Ichigo's confusion.

"H-Hollow? You mean said evil spirits you came to vanquish? - Ichigo asked, to which the woman nodded. "Shit! My family is downstairs." Ichigo struggled against the kido spell the woman placed on him. "Shit!"

"You can't break that!" - The woman shouted belligerently. "Just let-"Her voice trailed off once Yuzu came stumbling into Ichigo's room looking exhausted and hurt.

"Yuzu!" - Ichigo yelled worriedly for Yuzu.

"Nii-chan, something's got Karin-chan, and dad has been knocked-" Yuzu began to explain, but trailed off due to her lack of energy, her eyes got heavy and she immediately passed out.

"Yuzu!" - Ichigo screamed. Ichigo managed crawl onto his knees.

The woman's eyes widened a bit: 'Impossible! He's breaking my kido spell!"

**BOOM!** In one impressive burst of blue spiritual pressure, Ichigo broke the kido spell that was binding him to the floor. "I have to go rescue my family" - Ichigo picked up a baseball bat and marched downstairs, determined to save his family at all costs.

"No wait! You fool!" - The woman stated harshly. The woman chased after Ichigo.

While running downstairs, Ichigo mentally vowed to himself that he'd destroy the thing that did this to his house. The house had a big massive hole through the front living room, as if a truck had just drove through it. Isshin was lying unconscious on the floor of the kitchen.

"What the hell!" - Ichigo commented in shock once he and the woman made it outside. Right there in front of him was some huge monster! His skin was pitched black; he had huge bulky muscles and a bony white mask on his face. "What is that thing-" Ichigo's voice trailed off.

"Yummy soul, I will eat her now!" - The creature declared, holding up an unconscious Karin in his big hand.

Ichigo's eyes widened "Karin!" - Ichigo ran straight at the creature, ignoring the woman's words telling him to stop. "Leave my sister alone and eat me instead!" - Ichigo shouted, throwing his arms out to the side.

The creature looked at Ichigo and licked his lips. "Yes, you will make for a much more fitting meal!" - The creature dropped Karin and made his way over to Ichigo. "I will devour you and gain your powers" - Ichigo just scowled at the creature just as it came lunging in on him.

"Oh no" - The woman dashed over to Ichigo and pushed him out of the way, receiving a nasty gash across her right arm for her troubles. "Arghhhhh!" The woman grunted loudly, the force of the blow sent her crashing to the ground.

Ichigo had a confused look on his face. "Why'd you save me for?"

"Idoit!" - The woman stated. "Do you really think just offering him your soul will satisfy him, huh?"

Ichigo gasped in shock. He'd never realized how evil, just pour evil these monsters were. "Damn it!" - Ichigo cursed.

The woman crawled over to a wall. "My right arm is no good," she explained, keeping one eye shut from the pain she was feeling. Her arm was bleeding from the heavy gash caused by the big hollow monster.

"What will we do?" - Ichigo asked, watching the monster rub his hands menacingly together.

The woman held her sword to Ichigo. "You will have to protect your family."

"What...Me" - Ichigo responded, all confused by that comment. "How can I fight that thing?"

"You will have to stab yourself in the heart with my Zanpakuto" - The woman stated. Ichigo had a questionable look on his face. "You'll either die, or gain about 30% of my shinigami powers. The choice is yours."

Considering the fact they could die at any given moment now, Ichigo held his hand out, asking for the woman's sword. "Well then shinigami, give me that sword!"

"No, not shinigami, its Kuchiki... Kuchiki Rukia" - The woman now known as Rukia handed Ichigo her Zanpakuto, while keeping a firm hold of the handle herself.

"I'm Kurosaki... Kurosaki Ichigo" - Ichigo properly introduced himself to Rukia in case he was going to die. Then, without any hesitation in his heart and no fear in his eyes, Ichigo stabbed himself straight into his chest with Rukia's Zanpakuto.

**BOOOOOOM!** There was a mini explosion caused by Ichigo's new found power. The hollow watched in fascination as the dust rose up around Ichigo. The hollow licked his lips and rubbed his hands menacingly together when he sensed Ichigo's spiritual pressure skyrocket!

"Impossible!" Rukia commented, her eyes widened, realizing Ichigo took almost all her power away. "I was only meant to give him about 30% of my power, but somehow he has taken nearly all of it" - Rukia was now dressed in an all-white kimono.

"Hey, ugly" - Came Ichigo's voice from within the dust. "Sorry, but your plans for eating me will have to change," once the dust cleared up, Ichigo was revealed wearing a black shihakusho like the one Rukia was wearing before she transferred her powers over to Ichigo.

"Unreal," Rukia commented softly, staring at Ichigo in awe. There on Ichigo's shoulder was a massive broadsword, almost as big as Ichigo himself. "What a ridiculous size for a Zanpakuto."

"Hahahahaha!" - The hollow laughed. "Your spiritual pressure, oh I'm going to enjoy eating you!"

The hollow lunged in on Ichigo, while opening his mouth wide, intending to engulf Ichigo whole! Ichigo, reacting on instinct, side stepped the hollow's attack as if it were easy. "Pffft, please" - Ichigo grabbed his broadsword and drove it straight up the hollow stomach, all the way up to his face.

"Aaaaaaaaaaah" - The hollow let out one mega bitch scream as it dissolved into tiny white spirit particles.

"Too easy" - A cocky smirk formed on Ichigo's lips, relishing the way he effortlessly defeated that hollow as if were nothing but a baby to him.

"Incredible" - Rukia commented softly. 'His spiritual is so strong and powerful, but wait. Why do I get a weird feeling there's someone a whole lot more powerful then Ichigo' - Rukia thought, letting her mind wonder back to the spiritual pressure she felt before going to Ichigo's home. She didn't know why, but she was sure once that spiritual pressure fully emerged, it'd be on a whole other level than anything she had ever seen and felt before.

* * *

**And finished with this chapter.**


	4. Trouble on the Horizon

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or Naruto**

**This chapter was quite annoying to rewrite with the changes I'd to make.**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**Trouble on the horizon!**

"Damn it!" Naruto cursed; the frustration and anger evident in his voice. Naruto and Ryosuke suddenly found themselves miles beneath some big, deep hole; within a huge underground basement, where there was blue sky painted on the ceiling, and many huge light brown cliffs everywhere. Both Naruto and Ryosuke not only had their arms twisted behind their backs within this massive hole, but they also had a chain sticking out of each of their chests! They slowly lowered their gaze at the end of the chains sticking out of their chests; they both could only gasp in fear, seeing tiny little, brown ant creatures chewing on their chains.

"Uzumaki!" – Ryosuke stammered, a bead of sweat was running down his cheek. "What do you purpose we do? I don't want to have to eat my mum," Ryosuke struggled to move his arms against the kido spell Tessai used to bind his and Naruto's arms behind their backs, making it extremely difficult to climb out of the hole.

"I don't know!" – Naruto muttered, desperately trying to climb the cliff of the huge hole he and Ryosuke were trapped in. "I don't want to become hollow! I can't eat my Karin and Yuzu!"

"Show off!" Ryosuke resorted. "That bastard Kisuke! How dare he trap us in this place! I'll kill him when I break free!"

* * *

**Flashback - Three days ago.**

_Naruto and Ryosuke stared at the shop they'd walked into in fasciation. The shop held all this weird stuff; things like soul candy?! What was that? Ryosuke and Naruto were sure Kisuke must be a madman or something selling this kind of stuff._

_"What's with all this stuff?" Ryosuke asked, picking up a packet of soul candy and looking at it with curiosity in his eyes. "Soul candy? Is this meant to be some kind of power-up thing?"_

_"Get a load of this!" Naruto shouted, picking up a plain, fake body. "What's this?" Naruto continued. Naruto flipped the fake body around. "It looks like a body or something!"_

_Ryosuke paled: "Eeeee put that shit down Uzumaki!"_

_"Why!" Naruto asked innocently. "Ohhhhhhh!" Naruto's lips curved into a smirk. "You're scare, aren't ya! Admit it!" Naruto shoved the fake body in Ryosuke's face, making the taller boy feel uncomfortable._

_"Damn it Uzumaki!" Ryosuke sneered out. Ryosuke threw a punch at Naruto in a bid to knock the blond away. Ryosuke failed miserably, Naruto easily stepped his attack and left his leg out for Ryosuke to trip over it. "Aaaaah!" Ryosuke yelled out, falling face first onto the floor of the shop._

_"Hahahaha!" Naruto laughed loudly at the downed form of Ryosuke. "The teme got floored!"_

_A huge figure menacingly creped behind Naruto, "Do you mind putting that down… Uzumaki-dono!" It was Tessai's low voice; his whole body taking on an overshadowed look. "Unless you're going to pay for it… Uzumaki-dono!"_

_Naruto and Ryosuke froze up in their place. "N-No, thank you" Ryosuke stuttered; feeling the sweat slowly dropping off of the side of his face. Ryosuke and Naruto immediately put the strange items of Urahara Kisuke down and straightened their composure._

_"Good" – Kisuke spoke, tapping the floor of his shop with the cane in his hand. "Now that you're both finished having fun, we can get down to business. Involving the both of you awakening your shinigami powers," Kisuke explained._

_"But you still haven't explained what a shinigami is" – Naruto stated, his eyes half closed. "And how will we become shinigamis?"_

_Kisuke gestured his head towards the living room. "Let's go sit down first. Then I'll explain all to you" – Kisuke exclaimed. Naruto and Ryosuke both nodded in acceptance and followed Kisuke into the living room._

_Once Naruto and Ryosuke had taken their places on separate seats; Kisuke gestured Tessai to go make them some tea. Naruto and Ryosuke both turned the offer down, fully focused on awakening their shinigami powers._

_"Alright!" Kisuke began, upon taking his place on a separate seat. Naruto and Ryosuke fiercely nodded at him. Kisuke smirked, obviously pleased with the boys eagerness to learn. "I'll start from the beginning. A shinigami is actually a spirit whose has ascended into a warrior, so to speak."_

_Naruto and Ryosuke both shared looks of confusion on their faces. "Warrior?" Ryosuke asked, being the first to snap out of his stupor. "I thought a death god just carried the dead over to heaven. Or some shit like that."_

_"Well, technically you're correct. A shinigami does help spirits pass onto heaven; just not the way you're thinking" – Kisuke stated._

_"Huh?" Ryosuke wondered. Could he have been wrong about the shinigamis? The silver eyed boy always believed shinigamis were like some sort of death god that bought spirits to heaven or hell, depending on the crimes and good deeds the spirits committed. So, to find out he may be wrong was very shocking to say the least._

_"How does a shinigami help spirits pass on then, with their scythe or something?" Naruto wondered as he rubbed his chin in thought._

_"No Naruto. Shinigamis don't use scythes." Kisuke stated simply. This had both Naruto and Ryosuke raising their eyebrows and their eyes widened from shock! What kind of death god didn't carry a scythe? And if they don't carry a scythe, then what do they use to fight? As if getting the answer to their questions, Kisuke arose from his seat with his cane in his hand. Kisuke slowly placed his hand on the tip of his cane. Naruto and Ryosuke both watched in fasciation as Kisuke began pulling something out of his cane._

_"What the?" Naruto muttered; staring wide eyed at what he thought was just an ordinary cane. "That's a"… Naruto began just as Kisuke pulled out a thin, silver colored sword. "…That cane was actually a sword all along!" Naruto shouted. Kisuke must've been some kind of murderer if he was walking around with a secret sword sheathed in his scabbard-looking cane. "Are you a murderer old man?!"_

_Ryosuke cringed: "Oh shit! He's going to kill us" – Ryosuke jumped up off of his seat and held his hands defensively in front of himself. "I knew it was a mistake to come here!"_

_Kisuke blinked twice: "Now, now, now. I'm not going to kill you. Just relax" – He tried to reassure them with his best goofy smile._

_"Stay away from me or I'll beat the shit out of you, old man" – Naruto stated loudly as he angrily pointed his finger at Kisuke._

_Kisuke felt the sweat slowly dropped off of the back of his head: "Just relax!" Kisuke smiled broadly at the two. Naruto and Ryosuke settled down a bit, but still kept their guard up just in case Kisuke turned out to be a murderer. Kisuke turned his sword around, so the hilt of the sword was facing Naruto and Ryosuke. "This is how shinigamis send souls to a place called the "soul society". Or heaven, as you two call it" – Kisuke spoke, tapping the bottom part of his sword. "They slam the heel of their "Zanpakuto" into the spirit's head, there by successfully performing something they call a konso."_

_"Huh" – Naruto replied with general confusion written on his face. "Konso? Zanpakuto? What the hell are you talking about old man?!"_

_"Idiot!" Ryosuke said harshly. "He means that sword thing in his hand is a Zanpakuto that these 'shinigamis', use to send spirits to the other side. I swear even a monkey could get this."_

_A tick mark appeared on Naruto's forehead: "You bastard, who do you, think you are, calling a monkey smarter than me!"_

_Ryosuke smirked: "Well, you have got the lowest test scores out of anyone on our year group."_

_"That's because the teachers are out to get me!" Real mature Naruto; just blame the teachers that will sure solve all of your problems. To be fair on Naruto's part, most of the teachers barring Miss Riko do tend not to like the blond, "Specially that stupid Doctor Scar-teme!" Naruto sneered angrily at the mention of Mr S' name. "I'm glad I showed his ass! That punk ass teacher never stood a chance against me!" Naruto had a big grin on his face, relishing the way he effortlessly eradicated Doctor Scar after releasing some of his spiritual pressure._

_"You got lucky!" Ryosuke stated arrogantly._

_"What was that teme?!" Naruto shot back._

_"You heard me. I said you got lucky" – Ryosuke replied, sending daggers at Naruto._

_"Oh that's it!" Naruto rolled up his sleeves, "You and me right now, you teme!"_

_"What!" Ryosuke replied. "Is this meant to be some joke or something; I'll destroy you!"_

_"Hehe!" Naruto chuckled in response. "Like the last 20 times you 'destroyed' me. Hahahahaha, I guess I must have been blind, because I'm sure it was me every-time that walks away from you after you 'annihilate' me" – Naruto commented, the sarcasm evident in his voice._

_A vein popped out of Ryosuke's cheek: "stop laughing at me Uzumaki!"_

_"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha" – That only caused Naruto to laugh even harder. "Ha, ha, ha, ha!"_

_"Urghhhh" – Ryosuke growled out, turning red from the anger he was feeling at being mocked by Naruto. "Uzumaki!" He softly growled out._

_Kisuke felt multiples beads of sweat falling off of the side of his face; was this how they always acted? Now that was just crazy! 'I think I better get them started on their training, before they kill each other and instead begin the training up in the soul society' – Kisuke concluded in his mind. Kisuke, using his best friend patented flash step, fazes out, reappearing just a few inches in front of Naruto. _

_Naruto visibly flinched; he'd only managed to catch a few glimpses of Kisuke's speed. Kisuke slammed the heel of his Zanpakuto straight into Naruto's forehead; before the blond even had time to react to the sudden attack._

_"Narutoooooo!" Ryosuke screamed with concern coloring his voice; watching as something truly strange happened… Naruto was quite literally thrown out of his own body! Naruto went rolling out of the back of his physical body, spiralling backwards, before hitting the wall with a thud. "Naruto!" Ryosuke suddenly noticed Naruto had a chain sticking out of his chest! Ryosuke paled: "You've killed him!" Ryosuke shouted; the panic evident in his voice._

_Naruto rubbed his head: "Ow" – Naruto took note of the chain sticking out of his chest. "What the…" Naruto spotted his body lying unconscious on the floor. "What have you done to meeeeee?!"_

_"He's killed you! He's a murderer for real!" Ryosuke stated, loudly. "Shit! He wants me next!" Ryosuke began backing up until he hit the wall._

_"Noooooo! I can't be dead! I am still yet to marry my Karin-chan, or my Yuzu-chan, or both!" Naruto shouted with the panic evident in his voice._

_"Ahhhhh" - Kisuke covered the lower half of his face with his fan. "It'd seem someone quite the ladies-man."_

_"I was quite the ladies-man until you decided to finish me off! I swear I'll haunt you for all eternality old man!" Naruto stated. He couldn't let Kisuke get away with killing him now._

_"Relax" – Kisuke spoke, adjusting the tip of his green and white stripped hat on his head. Ryosuke flinched, thinking he'd come after him next. "You're not dead … Yet" He finished with a sadistic smile on his face._

_"Oh…Ok!" Naruto replied._

_Kisuke pointed to the chain on Naruto's chest. "You see that chain on your chest" – Kisuke began. Naruto and Ryosuke turned their gaze to the chain on Naruto's chest. "See where it leads."_

_Naruto and Ryosuke followed the chain on Naruto's chest, all the way to his physical body! "What?" Naruto's and Ryosuke's jaws were hitting the ground. "This chain is connected to my body!" _

_"Exactly!" Kisuke began. "That is what we call a soul chain. As long as your soul chain doesn't get disconnected from your body, you'll live."_

_"Ohhhhhh," Naruto felt relived he wasn't going to die. "So I guess I should get back into my body or…" Naruto trailed off when Kisuke did the unimaginable! Something that made Naruto's world shatter into a million pieces, "Aaaaaaaah!" Both Naruto and Ryosuke screamed loudly. "You cut my chain! You cut my chain!" Yep, in one slick movement, Kisuke severed Naruto's spirit chain, effectively killing him. "Noooooooo! I'm dead! I'll kill you old man!"_

_"You monster!" Ryosuke shouted. "Now I've got no one to knock out anyone!"_

_"Shut the hell up Ryosuke-teme!" Naruto yelled, fed up with Ryosuke's lies. "Nooooooo I'm dead" – Naruto cried out with a waterfall of tears falling from his eyes. "What will my Karin-chan, and my Yuzu-chan do without me; their loving blond knuckleheaded friend?"_

_Ryosuke got an invisible light bulb over his head: "Hahahaha. Maybe it's a good thing that you're dead now… Uzumaki!" Ryosuke stated with his hands on his hips. "Now I can have Yuzu and Karin to myself!"_

_"Hey! You can't have Yuzu-chan, or Karin-chan! They're mine! Not yours!" Naruto shouted._

_Ryosuke laughed in response: "You're dead! You can't have them. Besides, I feel they need a real man to take care of them, you know."_

_"Teme!" – Naruto shot back. "You're not a real man. You're just a boy!"_

_"Hehe!" Ryosuke laughed in response, doing his best impression of Naruto's cheeky fox grin; he failed of course. "Too bad Uzumaki, I have your g-"_

_"Well, actually" – Kisuke suddenly cut off Ryosuke, receiving a look of confusion from Naruto's long-time rival and friend in the process. "You need to die too… Ryosuke-san" – Kisuke had a grimace in his eyes._

_Ryosuke paled: "What!"_

_**Five seconds later.**_

_Ryosuke never stood a chance; a quick flash step from Kisuke resulted in Ryosuke rolling out of his physical body after Kisuke had slammed the heel of his Zanpakuto into his forehead; and within the same quick slick movement which saw Kisuke slash Naruto's chain, bucket hat Kisuke severed Ryosuke's soul chain, effectively killing him, like Naruto._

_"Nooooooo!" Ryosuke had a waterfall of tears falling from his eyes. "There goes my one chance of having two girls to myself!"_

_"Haha!" Naruto laughed at Ryosuke's misfortunate. Naruto wrapped his arm around Ryosuke's neck. "I told you already! You'd have never of got my Karin-chan, or my Yuzu-chan. They're my girls even after death!"_

_"Well actually Naruto" – Kisuke began. "You're not really dead."_

_"What do you mean shadow eyes?" Naruto asked, curiosity getting the better of him._

_"He means you have to awaken your shinigami powers to come back alive. Dumbass," Jinta's straightforward reply came from just outside the door._

_A tick mark appeared on Naruto's head. "Who asked you?!" Naruto suddenly ran at Jinta at such impressive speed he'd Kisuke humming an impressed noise. Naruto slammed his fist over Jinta's head with enough force to make the red headed boy cry out in pain. "Little bastard."_

_Jinta rubbed his head where Naruto hammer-punched him: "Ow! How is he so fast?"_

_"Yes I was wondering that myself" – Tessai spoke as he walked into the living room with Kisuke's tea in his hand. "Uzumaki-dono shouldn't be that fast! But yet, he is."_

_"Huh?" – Came the bewildered replies of both Naruto and Ryosuke. "Can I do that too" – Ryosuke wondered. Ryosuke took off running towards Jinta at a decent amount of speed. He wasn't as fast as his rival Naruto, but he still had enough speed to leave the dust in his wake. Ryosuke lunged in on Jinta with a straight right punch._

_"Ah!" Jinta gasped. Ryosuke just stopped his fist before it connected with Jinta's face. 'These guys… They're good' – Was all Jinta could think of._

_Tessai's jaw was hitting the floor. "And even…"_

_"Kagoshima" – Ryosuke cut in, already guessing Tessai was going to ask for his last name._

_"And now Kagoshima-dono" – Tessai finished his sentenced._

_"Hmm" – Ururu hummed in agreement with Tessai._

_"I don't get it. What's so special about us running really fast" – Naruto asked, not understanding what was so special about running really fast. "Is it because we're in our soul form? Or something on the lines?"_

_"Hmm" – Kisuke nodded in confirmation. "Basically speaking, you're both ready to awaken your shinigami powers" – Kisuke stated. Naruto and Ryosuke's face were beaming in delight. "Normally in these circumstances you'd have both needed to get used to moving in your souls forms before I severed each of your spirit chains."_

_"What!" Ryosuke muttered, the shock evident on his face. "Are you trying to say you took a risk with our lives?"_

_"Haha!" Kisuke nervously laughed in response as he covered his face with his fan._

_"Bastard!" Ryosuke swore_

_"Oh well!" – Naruto exclaimed loudly as he folded his arms behind his head. "Let's just hurry and become shinigamis already."_

_Kisuke smiles: "Alright Tessai, you heard the man."_

_"Yes Urahara-dono" – Tessai replied. Tessai pointed his fingers at both R__yosuke and Naruto. Both lads were looking confused at that, "__**First restraint obstruction**__!"_

_"Ow!" Ryosuke and Naruto winced loudly as their arms twisted themselves behind their backs, almost as if they were commanded to do so. "What gives?!" – Naruto growled out. "Let me go!"_

_"Sorry Naruto-san; but this is the next step to becoming a shinigami" – Kisuke explained._

_"Hahahaha!" – Jinta laughed at the two boys. "Not so tough now, are ya."_

_"Urghhhhhhh!" – Naruto and Ryosuke both angrily sneered in response, promising themselves they'd beat the shit out of the red headed boy later._

_"Um… Jinta-kun that isn't very nice you know" – Ururu shyly muttered out, not liking seeing Ryosuke or Naruto in such a painful way._

_"Pfft, whatever" – Jinta replied, like he really just didn't care._

_Tessai picked up the restrained forms of both Naruto and Ryosuke and hurled the two lads over his shoulders. "Time to begin the training, young Uzumaki-dono and young Kagoshima-dono"_

_Naruto and Ryosuke both felt the sweat visibly pour off of their faces at the man's strength. "Okay!" – They both nodded in response._

_"This will be so good!" Jinta stated with a big grin on his face, relishing the thought of seeing the two boys fighting for their lives._

_Kisuke walked over to a hidden door on the floor of his shop. Naruto and Ryosuke both gasped once Kisuke opened up the door on the floor, revealing a hidden hole that must lead somewhere._

_"Now, I must warn you that the next training session will be brutal" – Kisuke stated. "In fact, this next stage could turn each of you into hollows, if you don't reach your Zanpakutos, there by fully transforming into shinigamis,"_

_"What?!" Naruto and Ryosuke both shouted simultaneously, and with their eyes popping out of their heads. "What do you mean this training could kill us?!" Naruto responded, demandingly._

_"Oh no, you won't die" – Kisuke shook his head. "Something much worst will happen, and that's you could both turn into hollows. A creature that goes around eating the souls of the living to fill the emptiness within themselves," He concluded in a grim tone._

_Ryosuke cringed: "I don't want to turn into a hollow."_

_"What do hollows look like?" Naruto asked, wondering if the creature that'd attacked him and Karin-chan was also a hollow. "Do they have white masks on their faces?"_

_"Well, yes they do; and you could very well become one, young Uzumaki" – Kisuke stated, pulling out his fan to cover his sadistic smile. "And if that happens, we'll be forced to kill you, so you won't go off trying to eat your precious Yuzu and Karin now."_

_"Damn it" Naruto cursed, there was no way he'd ever allow himself to become a hollow, hell no! The blond had to stay human and protect his Karin-chan and Yuzu-chan. 'There's no way I'm going to die and become some hollow,' Naruto thought with determination._

_'I can't become a hollow. I still have to defeat Uzumaki! I can't become a hollow' – Ryosuke repeatedly told himself in his mind._

_Kisuke jumped into the hole leading to his underground basement. He was quickly followed by Tessai, who was holding the restrained forms of both Naruto and Ryosuke on his shoulders; Tessai was then quickly followed by Ururu and Jinta, who both wanted to see how the lads would handle the pressure._

_Once on the bottom, both Naruto and Ryosuke were gawking around the base, it was absolutely huge! It seemed more like a massive cliff side then an actual basement. There were plenty of light brown colored borders and the sky was also painted a light blue color, just like the morning sky itself. Naruto and Ryosuke were just completely flabbergasted to how one man could build something this big within such a small shop! Unbelievable!_

_Kisuke smiled broadly at the two observing boys and gestured Tessai to throw them in the massive hole not too far away from where they were standing. _

_Naruto and Ryosuke's eyes widened, staring down into the huge hole where the rocks or the cliff of the hole appeared to be colored in a faint greenish tint._

_"What the hell!" Naruto commented loudly. "You're not going to throw us in there, are you?"_

_Tessai didn't answer; instead he jumped straight into the hole with Ryosuke and Naruto on his shoulders._

_"Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh" – Ryosuke screamed loudly, feeling his hair swaying upwards from the momentum of Tessai's falling. Tessai landed on the ground with a huge thud._

_"Damn it" – Naruto cursed. "Don't scare us like that!"_

_Tessai dropped Naruto and Ryosuke on the floor of the hole they were in. Naruto and Ryosuke looked all the way up and could just about make out the tiny forms of Kisuke, Jinta, and Ururu._

_Kisuke smiled sadistically. "You okay lads?" – Kisuke asked rhetorically. Naruto and Ryosuke both scowled up at him, the frustration was clearly evident in their scowl. "Good! Now, you both have 72 hours to climb up this cliff without the use of your hands!"_

_"That's bullshit!" – Naruto shouted up at Kisuke. "How the hell can we climb up this stupid cliff without our hands!?" _

_Kisuke's expression turned considerably dark. "You'd better find a way!" – Kisuke replied back to Naruto. "Because if you don't escape Shattered Shaft, the Encroachment will eat away at your soul chain until there is nothing left! Once that happens, you will both become hollows and when that happens we will be forced to kill each of you."_

_"Bastard!" – Naruto curses, the rage and frustration evident in his voice._

_Ryosuke paled: "Oh shit!" - A saw-like sound could be heard coming from the direction of both Naruto and Ryosuke's soul chains. "Aaaaaaaah they're eating our soul chains!"_

_"Holy crap!" Naruto shouted, seeing the little Encroachments that seemed more like little bugs eating away at his soul chain. "Screw this! I'm getting out of here!" – Naruto desperately crawled onto his chin and reached his way over to the bottom part of the cliff. "I can't die yet! My Yuzu and Karin need me!" Naruto managed to crawl his way onto his knees; the blond then tried to pull his way up the cliff using his teeth alone; but unfortunately for Naruto, that was an impossible task and he ended up falling flat on his face. "Damn it!"_

_"Shit!" Ryosuke winced. "We're going to die man! I just know it!"_

_"Stop being a bitch and come on!" Naruto stated, knowing winding up Ryosuke would keep him going._

_"Shut up Uzumaki!" Ryosuke growled loudly. "I can't die here and let Uzumaki rub it in my face when I'm dead!"_

_Naruto smirked: "Good"_

_"Hey!" Jinta suddenly shouted down at the lads. "Are you two getting hungry down there yet?"_

_"No!" – Naruto replied. "Why do you ask anyway?"_

_Jinta smirked a devious smirk on his lips. "Just wondering! You know, they say when a spirit begins to get hungry, it's a sign that they're turning into a hollow."_

_Ryosuke quivered: "Damn! Don't tell us that."_

_Jinta laughed: "Serves you two right for acting like such big shots" – Jinta leaned over the edge of shattered shaft, glaring down at the two scowling boys. "Want to have something to eat?"_

_"Noooooooo! We're not hungry!" Naruto shot back._

_A touch of saliva began forming up in Jinta's mouth. "You better not kid!" – Ryosuke stated, knowing what Jinta was thinking and warning him not to do it. Too late, Jinta spat the saliva on Ryosuke's head. Ryosuke scowled: "Grrrrrrr! When I get my hands on that kid, I'll kill him!" _

_"Hahahahaha!" Naruto laughed: "He got you good Ryosuke-teme…" Naruto trailed off when he too felt the saliva drop onto his blond spiky hair. Naruto's face flushed red with anger. "That's it! He's dead when I get out of here!" _

_"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" – Jinta laughed hard at the two boys, relishing every single moment of it. "You should see the looks on your faces!" _

_Naruto glanced at Ryosuke. "When we get out of here; let's kill him first."_

_"Urgh. Agreed Uzumaki!" – Ryosuke growled in reply._

_"Hmm" – Kisuke hummed in thought. 'I wonder if they can survive this training, if not, we'll have…" Kisuke stopped his line of thought when a good amount of spiritual pressure reached his senses. Kisuke looked up towards the sky. 'That's Isshin's son! I guess it's time already' – Kisuke concluded in his mind. Kisuke, without warning, flash stepped out of the basement and out of his shop, taking a gigai with him as well; leaving Naruto and Ryosuke confused to why he'd leave so suddenly and without warning._

* * *

**End of flashback.**

That was three days ago. Since then Naruto and Ryosuke have both tried and failed to reach the top of the cliff numerous of times; they both have multiple cuts and bruises all over their bodies, clearly indicting to how many times both lads have fallen off of the cliff.

"Nooooooo!" Naruto moaned after yet another failed attempt to climb up the deep cliff that was Shattered Shaft. "I don't want to become a hollow!" Naruto glanced down at his soul chain. "Shit!" He cursed once he saw that his soul chain was almost completely gone. "Yuzu-chan, Karin-chan, Grandma Tomoyo, I won't die yet!"

"Naruto" – Ryosuke began, and at the mention of his first name, Naruto looked at Ryosuke in debrief. "We've had some good times together."

Naruto was a little taken aback. Was this really Ryosuke? The same Ryosuke who always challenged him every day and ended up getting his ass kicked! "Don't be talking like that, teme."! – Naruto stated, not wanting to go all emotion when they still have a chance to escape this pit of doom. "We've still got a chance!" There was no need to get all sentimental on each other.

"GIVE IT UP NARUTO!" Ryosuke yelled, causing Naruto to gasp in surprise. "Look at us. We've reached a dead-end! Our soul chains have almost been completely severed. We're dead, it's that simple!"

"Damn it!" Naruto cursed, knowing he had a point to be fair.

"Looks like they have almost reached the end of the line," Jinta replied nonchalantly. "I guess we'll just have to kill them then!"

"Um…..uh no" – Ururu stuttered. "Don't give up Kagoshima-kun and Uzumaki-san" – Ururu commented, trying to urge the two boys to awaken their shinigami powers and free themselves. Things were not looking good for the hero of the story Uzumaki Naruto and his rival Kagoshima Ryosuke.

* * *

**In the meantime - With Ichigo.**

The last three days had been a blur to the strawberry student. First off, some little lady dressed in a black shihakusho told him she was a shinigami that came from a place called "the soul society", or heaven to him, to kill some monsters called "hollows". And if that wasn't crazy enough, one of these "hollows", ended up attacking him and his family! The woman whose name was Rukia pushed Ichigo out of the way when he tried to sacrifice himself so the hollow would leave his family alone. In a strange twist of events, Ichigo apparently 'absorbed' about 90% of Rukia's power, and using said power, Ichigo effortlessly killed the hollow that was threatening to kill his family.

'Was all that just a dream' – Ichigo had thought this the next respective day. It must have been a dream, it felt too crazy to be real and at the same time, it felt too right to be a dream. Kurosaki Ichigo relished the way he destroyed that hollow; he could feel an overwhelming amount of confidence well up inside of him, when he held that big broadsword in his hand; and easily side stepped the hollow's attack; there by slicing him to pieces afterwards as if it were nothing but a fly to him.

'It was probably just a dream' – Ichigo had concluded to himself. His sisters didn't remember anything! Not even when their friend Uzumaki Naruto stopped by to get stitched up, they couldn't even remember that. Apparently that 'Naruto-boy' was meant to be like some hot-shot, according to Yuzu anyway. So, why was it that his sisters couldn't remember anything? Also, the hollow made a big hole through the wall of their house. But, "magically" it was repaired the next day!

How spontaneous and inexplicable was that?

Ichigo had no idea what was going on. Like that show called lost, Ichigo was lost in all this completely. 'It was just a dream then' – Ichigo concluded himself.

Back to the present day, Kurosaki Ichigo was making his way towards his school, deciding it'd be best to put all that nonsense about shinigamis and hollows in the back of his mind and pretend like it never happened

After a few moments of walking in silent; Ichigo had finally made it to his school. "Hey Chado" – Ichigo greeted his long-time friend Chad, who was waiting patiently for his arrival by the gate of the school.

"Hmm" – Chad quietly hummed in response. Chad was fairly tan skinned. He was very tall and muscular for his age, looking more like a big 25 year old man then an actual 15 year old school boy. Like Ichigo, Chad was wearing his school uniform only without the blazer on. He had on a white shirt with the edges of said shirt tucked into his grey jeans; he also had on black shoes on his feet like the rest of the students at Karakura high school. "You alright Ichigo" – Chad asked in a monotone, his dark red wavy hair covering his eyes.

"Hmm" – Ichigo nodded in confirmation. "I'm good" – He stated simply. Chad nodded and followed Ichigo into the school.

"Yooooooo, Ichhiiiiggooooooo!" Keigo screamed loudly, in his usual hyperactive fashion, once he saw Ichigo walking into the school with Chad by his side. Keigo launched himself at Ichigo, intending to wrap his arm around Ichigo's neck.

**WHACK!** The end result was the same as it always was; Ichigo slammed the back side of his fist straight into Keigo's face! "Arghhhhh!" – Keigo, as always, let out a loud over exaggerated grunt as he simultaneously fell over from the force Ichigo packed into his punch. "Whyyyyyyy, Ichigooooooooo, whyyyyyyyyyy!" Keigo cried out with a waterfall of tears falling from his eyes.

"Because you're being annoying Asano-san" - Mizuiro replied in his polite but deadpanned tone.

"I wasn't talking to you!" – Keigo screamed, annoyed.

"Hey Ichigo" – Tatsuki greeted Ichigo as she walked over to him with Orihime by her side. "Did you check the test scores? I ranked 7th this year!"

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" – Keigo laughed loudly. "Girls are such nerds!"

Tatsuki glared at him, annoyed: "What was that Keigo?!"

"Aaaaaaaaaah! It was nothing!" – Keigo screamed in replied. Tatsuki scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "I was just saying we men score last on our tests! Right Chad?"

"Hmm" – Chad calmly hummed as he pointed to the test scores on the wall, revealing he'd been ranked 15th.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhh!" – Keigo screamed. "I'm hanging out with a nerd! I can't believe it!" Keigo stated, jumping away from Chad, determined not to catch the nerd off of him. "Well at least Ichigo scored low, like me. Right Ichigo? I happened to come near last."

"Hrughhh" – Ichigo let out a calm scoff as he pointed to the score board revealing he'd scored higher than Chad.

Keigo paled: "Noooooooo Wayyyyyy! I'm hanging with two nerds! Ichigooooooooo how could you be ranked 11th? I thought you were cool!"

**SLAP!** Tatsuki suddenly become fed up with Keigo's nonsense and slammed her hand straight into his face. "Aaaaaaaarghhhhhh!" Keigo over exaggerated the grunt as felt himself falling uncontrollably from the power of Tatsuki's slap. "Everybody against me" – Keigo moaned, the tears falling from his face.

"Hey Orihime-chan, where'd you ranked?" – Tatsuki asked her best friend.

"Hm" – Orihime shyly pointed to the score board revealing she'd been ranked in 2nd place!

"Wow Orihime-chan" – Tatsuki exclaimed, staring at Orihime in awe. "You're really smart! Good job."

"Hahaha, it was nothing really" – Orihime humbly says, not wanting to take any glory just for passing a test.

"Oooooooo, my sweet hime is just sooooo modest!" Came the loud voice that could only be Chizuru. Chizuru spring-boarded herself at Orihime, with only one goal, and that was to feel those soft pillows on Orihime's chest that could only be her breasts.

**BAMM!** Tatsuki slammed her fist straight into Chizuru's face, making the red headed girl cry out in pain as she fell over, just like Keigo had not too long ago.

"Owwwww" – Chizuru winced from the pain of being hit so hard by Tatsuki. Chizuru was a thin teenager with short red hair and purple eyes; her bangs parted on both sides of her face and she also wore red framed glasses.

Orihime looked worried from her best friend, Tatsuki's, brutal treatment on her other friend Chizuru.

"Let's go to class" – Tatsuki commented. Orihime, Ichigo, Chad, Keigo and Mizuiro all followed Tatsuki into their classroom.

"Hey, did you hear? There's apparently going to be a transfer student today" – Mizuiro stated, once he and the others were in the classroom.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" Keigo laughed loudly, placing his hands on his hips. "I bet she'll be a real babe!"

Tatsuki looked at Keigo, deadpanned: "I don't see what woman in the right mind would fall for you, Asano."

Keigo cried: "Awwwwwww, Tatsuki! Why do you and Ichigo have to be so cruel against me?!"

"Because you're acting a fool, Asano-san" – Mizuiro exclaimed politely.

"I wasn't talking to you already, alright!" – Keigo shouted.

Ichigo sighed: 'Still, things aren't as weird as they were three days ago' – Ichigo thought.

The sound of the sliding open got everyone's but Ichigo's undivided attention. The orange haired man was still deep in thought of the events that occurred only three days ago. Shinigamis, hollows, his sisters not remembering that Naruto had stopped by to get stitched up and then that girl, who was named…..

"Hi there. I'm Kuchiki Rukia" – Yep, that was her name alright. Someone must have called it out while Ichigo was deep in thought about her. Wait! Hold up, did Ichigo just hear Rukia introduced herself to the class? "I hope we can be friends" – Rukia finished.

Ichigo turned his head to look at Rukia. "Ah!" He gasped upon recognizing her, 'it's her!" Ichigo shakily pointed his finger at Rukia. Rukia just stood there; smiling an obviously fake smile on her face, only Ichigo knew was fake.

Rukia was wearing the Karakura high school uniform with the traditional Japanese short skirt on.

"Wooooooo a babe!" Keigo exclaimed loudly. "She's gorgeous!"

Rukia walked over to Ichigo. "My name is Kuchiki Rukia, I sure hope we can be good friends… Um Kurosaki Ichigo is it?"

Huh? Wait! Was she pretending not to know him with that obviously fake nice accent she had on. As if getting the answer to his question Rukia held her hand out to Ichigo. "Can I borrow some books?" She asked with her fake nice accent, only Ichigo knew was fake.

Rukia flashed Ichigo a note only he could see. Ichigo paled upon reading the note on Rukia's hand. "_Make a scene, and I'll kill you_". Ichigo sighed and admitted defeat in the matter.

Rukia smiled and took her place beside Ichigo's desk. All of Ichigo's friends were oblivious to the mini confrontation between the two, and instead simply opened up their textbooks just as the teacher walked into the classroom and began teaching.

Ichigo scowled: 'This is going to be one long day.'

* * *

**At Karakura Middle School**

Yuzu was feeling worried; her good friend Uzumaki-kun hadn't come into school today at all. The odd thing was, his grandma Tomoyo didn't know where he was neither. Yuzu bit her top lip, feeling the anxiety welling up inside of her. Her brother, Kurosaki Ichigo, had stated that she said Naruto came around their house on Friday? If that was the case, then why couldn't she remember Naruto being around the Kurosaki Household?

'Uzumaki-kun,' Yuzu thought, the worry was evident on her face. Yuzu placed her hand on her chest and thought about Naruto. 'What has happened to you, Uzumaki-kun?'

* * *

**_Flashback earlier today_**

_Yuzu was up and dressed in her school uniform. Hoping to see her friend Uzumaki Naruto, who Ichigo says, was here on Friday according to her words. Yuzu was left confused by that statement; surely she'd have remembered inviting Naruto around to their house. The girl always wanted to have Naruto at their house ever since she could remember, so surely she'd remember such a memory like that if it happened._

_'I was probably just daydreaming Uzumaki-kun coming around to our house' – Yuzu concluded daydreaming as the most likely assumption for why she'd tell Ichigo that Naruto had come around if he hadn't._

_"You okay Yuzu?" – Karin tapped her sister Yuzu on her shoulder, seeing Yuzu drifting off into her own world for a minute. "You're still not upset by about Ichi-nii stating that you said Naruto came around on Friday, are you?"_

_Yuzu shook her head in response. "No. I'm still a bit worried about Uzumaki-kun though. I went to see him on Saturday and Lady Tomoyo-sama said he didn't return home after school."_

_"He's probably hanging out with Ryosuke or something" – Karin offered a shrug of her shoulders. "I'm sure we'll see him later at school. Or, we could always go knock for him on the way."_

_Yuzu seemed to brighten up a bit. "Ok sis."_

_Yuzu and Karin then made their way towards the dinner table, where they were shortly joined by Isshin and Ichigo. After the usual mini brawl between Isshin and Ichigo, which started because Isshin flying kicked the living hell out of Ichigo, ended with Ichigo slamming a vicious round-house punch straight into his father's temple; the girls were able to finish their breakfast, bid farewell to Ichigo and Isshin, and begin making their way towards Tomoyo's house to call on Naruto._

_After a few minutes of walking, which involved crossing over a road, turning a couple of corners, and walking through a narrow alleyway, the Kurosaki twins made it to Tomoyo's house, so they could call on Naruto_

_"Alright here we are!" Yuzu stated. Yuzu ranged the doorbell of Tomoyo's house, which was just on the left side of the door. "I hope Uzumaki-kun ready?"_

_"Hmm" – Karin hummed with her sister in agreement._

_After a few seconds of patently waiting for a response, both Karin and Yuzu heard the sweet, caring voice of Tomoyo. "Who could that be?" Tomoyo opened up the door of her house. "Ah" – a smile crossed the old lady's lips upon seeing her grandson's precious friends Karin and Yuzu. "Yuzu-chan, Karin-chan, what may I do for you?"_

_"Good morning Lady Tomoyo-sama" – Yuzu greeted Tomoyo with a short nod. "We were wondering if Uzumaki-kun wanted to walk to school with us."_

_"I haven't seen Naruto-chan since the last time he left school, which was on Friday" – Tomoyo commented._

_This caused both Karin and Yuzu's eyes to widen. Both girls let out a short gasp, how could Tomoyo not know where her own grandson was?_

_"But Tomoyo-sama, you're Naruto's grandmother! You of all people should know where he is?" – Karin commented. "Aren't you worried about him?"_

_Tomoyo smiled: "Oh I don't have to worry too much about my little Naruto-chan" – Tomoyo exclaimed. Karin and Yuzu just looked at her like she was on crack! "He's so strong even for a 12 year old. So strong in fact, I really can't see how he could get himself hurt."_

_This seemed to calm Karin's nerves down. Tomoyo's Naruto's grandmother, so it makes sense for her to know him the best. "Will we see Naruto today?" – Karin still had to ask._

_"I'd hope so. He knows the consequences of skipping school" – Tomoyo stated. "That silly boy" – Tomoyo looked up towards the sky, thinking about her grandson. "He's probably visiting his old friends he met while training at the temple."_

_'Temple' – Karin thought, she never realized Naruto once trained at a temple._

_"Yeah" – Yuzu says, a smile forming on her lips. Does Yuzu know about Naruto's training? _

_Karin would have to make a mental note to question her sister about it later._

* * *

_End of flashback_

That was only just today. Yuzu was hoping Naruto would appear in school, yet, Naruto was not present in school and neither was the blonde's rival, Ryosuke. This only had Yuzu becoming even more anxious, how the both of them could not be present in the school on the same day no less, was worrying to say the least.

"Kurosaki Yuzu" – Miss Riko's voice visibly startled Yuzu.

"Here Miss" – Yuzu raised her hand, letting the teacher know of her presence in the classroom.

"Kurosaki Karin" – Miss Riko calls out.

"Here" – Karin replied with a sigh afterwards, 'Just another boring day in Karakura middle school. It'll be boring without Naruto around. At least that idiot lightened up the mood."

Miss Riko took note of Naruto's absence. 'Where's Uzumaki-san' – Miss Riko thought, realizing the school hadn't received a call clarifying Naruto's absence. 'I better get to the bottom of this before Mr S finds out' – That was the last thing Miss Riko would want, was Mr S having another reason to try and get Naruto kicked out of school; Miss Riko would have to get to the bottom of Naruto's absence.

"Hmm" – Yuzu worriedly hummed, seeing the look on Miss Riko's eyes that was directed at the empty seat of Naruto. Yuzu only become more worried about Naruto, knowing he'd be in trouble later on.

* * *

**Shattered Shaft - With Naruto and Ryosuke**

"Achoo" – Naruto suddenly sneezed out loud, and for like the seventh time during this torturous time trying to escape Shattered Shaft, before his soul chain was completely devoured by the Encroachment.

"Damn it Uzumaki! Stop sneezing already!" – Ryosuke growled out, keeping one eye shut. "We need to figure out how to get out of here, before we become hollows" – Both Naruto and Ryosuke were covered in more cuts and bruises, and a top of that, they were both feeling drained from all of their failed attempts to reach the top.

"Alright already!" – Naruto shouted. "It's not my fault I'm so popular!"

"Um… Don't fight you two" – Ururu shyly stated, still watching the two struggling to climb Shattered Shaft. Jinta had already fallen asleep; fully believing the lads would become hollows any second now; and was just waiting so he could play a part in killing them.

"How can we get out of here?!" Ryosuke stated. Ryosuke turned to Tessai, who'd been sitting there for three days, and with his arms crossed over his chest in a lotus position. "Give us some advice!"

"Find your Zanpakuto spirit, like Urahara-dono said" – Tessai explained calmly. "A Zanpakuto is an extension of one's true self."

"Yeah, that's cool and all, but that still won't get us out of here!" Naruto exclaimed. Naruto glanced down at his soul chain. "Damn!" He cursed seeing only one piece of the long metal link that was sticking out of his chest before. 'What to do? What to do? What to do?"

Ryosuke slowly steadied his breathing to try and calm himself down. 'I've got to relax. I'm better than this and I know it. I've only just been panicking up until now' – Ryosuke thought, realizing he needed to change his approach if he wanted to save himself from this death trap. 'Zanpakuto, Zanpakuto, Zanpakuto,' Ryosuke closed his eyes, and began searching deep within himself, further, within the very fibre of his body. 'Zanpakuto spirit… Please, if you're in there, please save me' – Ryosuke continued, knowing he was in a desperate situation, and just hoping that being in a life and death matter would force his Zanpakuto to help him out. 'I know I haven't always been a good boy, heh. But, I don't want to become a hollow and start devouring innocent people. So, please Zanpakuto spirit. Lend me your power and I will use it to the best of my abilities, to protect not only myself, but everyone with all my power…Your power… No! Our power!' Ryosuke finished, he could only hope and pray he got through to his Zanpakuto spirit, otherwise, he could kiss life goodbye.

"Ryosuke-teme!" Naruto called out, noticing his rival drifting off into his own little world. "Damn it!" The Encroachment continued to feed off of Naruto's soul chain. 'I can't turn into a hollow. I can't die yet! Grandma, Yuzu-chan and Karin-chan all need me!'

Suddenly there was a flash of green coming from the direction of Ryosuke!

"What!" – Naruto shouted in shock and awe. Ryosuke's eyes were literally growing green. "Just what the hell happened to him?"

'Hmm. Could he have awakened his shinigamis powers now' – Kisuke assessed to himself.

* * *

**Elsewhere - With Ryosuke**

Ryosuke's eyes snapped open abruptly. His eyes wondered around the place he'd seemingly just magically appeared in. The air was tense, and the temperature felt like it was 100 degrees cellulous. Ryosuke was sweating from the extreme heat of this place. "Why is it so hot in here?" Ryosuke began fanning himself with his hand. Ryosuke accidentally kicked a pebble off of the side of the platform he was standing on. The slight noise of the pebble being kicked made Ryosuke turn his head sharply over his shoulder.

"What?" Ryosuke's eyes widened as he stared down at the fiery, red and orange goo floating up little tiny molts of lava every once in a while. "Where am I?" Ryosuke shouted demandingly as the fear began to build up inside of him.

"**You're in your inner world, kid****,**" Came a reply of one man, his voice would suggest, standing not too far from Ryosuke.

"Who's there?" – Ryosuke searched frantically for the source of the voice. "Are you the one who bought me here?" Ryosuke continued to search aimlessly for the voice. "Got ya" Ryosuke's eyes finally landed on the source of the voice. "What the…" Ryosuke muttered.

There, right in front of Ryosuke, seemed to be two overshadowed bodies, looking at him with their eyes almost judging him.

"Who are you people?!" Ryosuke frantically asked. "And where the hell am I?" Ryosuke had to get some answers from the two strange people standing in front of him.

"**I just told you. This is your inner world, and we are your Zanpakuto spirits**" – He explained simply.

At the mention of his Zanpakuto spirits, this had Ryosuke beaming with delight. "YES! YES! YES! I'VE FINALLY BEATEN UZUMAKI TO SOMETHING AT LAST AND…" Ryosuke stopped his celebrations when the people now known as his Zanpakuto spirits walked into his line of view. "What the" – Ryosuke muttered, the shock clearly evident on his face.

Both of Ryosuke's Zanpakuto sprits had twisted curvy bodies, shaped like an s in fact. They both had many scales all over their bodies; one of the Zanpakutō's was colored in a dark green color, while the other one was colored in a light blue color. But, they'd one thing in common, and that was their eyes were silvered colored, just like Ryosuke's eyes in fact.

"Dragons!" – Ryosuke stammered out. "I have dragons for my Zanpakuto spirits?"

"**Yes**" – The green dragon nodded in confirmation; clearly he was the one that had spoken earlier. "Do you think you're ready to hear our names?"

"I don't know" – Ryosuke commented with general confusion written on his face. "Is it important?"

"**Yes"** – The green dragon responded impassively, so clearly the blue dragon liked to remain quiet. "**Shinig****amis are about 5 times stronger once**** they know the ****name of their Zanpakuto spirit,"** this clarification had Ryosuke interested. This would be the perfect way to rub something in Uzumaki's face. "**Are you ready****?****"**

Ryosuke gulped: "Y-yes."

"**Good**" – The green dragon commented. The green dragon took his time to gather his thoughts on Ryosuke. "**Ok**" – He began after a moment of thought. "**My name is**…"

"What?" Ryosuke wondered. "I didn't hear anything."

"Hmm" – The green dragon hummed in thought. "Just as I expected, you're not ready to hear our names."

Ryosuke wasn't an idiot; he could tell that his Zanpakuto spirits were trying to tell him that he was not yet strong enough to wield their true power… Yet. Ryosuke sighed heavily, admitting defeat in the matter.

Both of Ryosuke's Zanpakuto spirits smiled at him, happy that Ryosuke at least wanted to get stronger. "**Now, it is time**" – The green dragon spoke again.

Ryosuke watched in fasciation as both of his Zanpakuto spirits curled up into a tiny ball of energy, said balls of energy flew at Ryosuke at such pace it made Ryosuke instinctively flinched and cover his face with his arms.

"What?" Ryosuke asked in confusion, feeling no pain from the dragons' random attack on him, according to him anyway. Ryosuke moved slightly and could hear the sound of metal knocking into each other at his side. "What?" – Ryosuke was left perplexed, there on his hips appeared to be two medium size swords, that would stretched from his head to his lower back if measured.

Ryosuke smirked: "So, I guess I'm now a shinigami." Ryosuke vanished entirely, out of his inner world, gearing himself up to escape Shattered Shaft.

* * *

**Shattered Shaft**

"Ryosuke" – Naruto questioned his rival, knowing he'd been "asleep" for like five minutes, "RYOSUKE-TEME!"

**Booooom!** As if summoned by his name, Ryosuke exploded in an immense burst of shiny green spiritual pressure, with blue outlines around said spiritual pressure. Naruto's eyes widened, did Ryosuke just awaken his shinigami powers?! The magnitude of the explosion not only made the dust fly into Naruto's mouth, but also awoke Jinta from his sleep. Ryosuke leaped out of Shattered Shaft in a blur of a movement.

"HEY! DON'T JUST LEAVE ME HERE! TEME!" – Naruto shouted, his eyes going blank from the anger and frustration he was feeling at still being struck down in the pit while Ryosuke gets to leave.

Kisuke smiled. "Well done, Kagoshima-kun" he complimented Ryosuke, just as the silver eyed boy landed on the ground.

Ryosuke marvelled at his new found power and looks he now had. He was no longer wearing his school uniform, now he had on a black shihakusho, held closed by a white sash tied around his waist. Ryosuke was also wearing sandals on his feet.

"Ha, ha, Ha, ha, ha!" – Ryosuke laughed loudly in triumph, "In your face Uzumaki! I made it up here first!"

A vein popped out of Naruto's cheek: "Oh shut up Ryosuke-teme!" He shouted, trying the impossible, to move his arms against the kido spell placed on him by Tessai. "I'm only staying in here longer for an extra power boost! Or something like that!"– Naruto had no idea how right he was.

"Whatever" – Ryosuke scoffed shortly afterwards. Ryosuke then unsheathed the blades out of the scabbards that were on his hips. "Wow" – He gawked at the twin blades in each of his hands. They were both the same length in size, curved slightly at the tip of each of them. The blades themselves were both silver colored. Yet, the hilt of each of Ryosuke's Zanpakutos were the most interesting thing, the hilts were shaped like two curvy s dragons; and while one hilt happened to be a light blue color, the other one was a dark green color.

Ryosuke marvelled at the two ninjatos in his hands.

"There nothing special" – Jinta commented with his arms folded behind his head. Ryosuke turned to Jinta with a smirk on his face. Ryosuke's eyes began glowing green, while the pupils of his eyes glowed blue. "Ahhhhh!" Suddenly Jinta found himself nailed to the floor by an invisible force, his breathing become so unstable he felt as if someone was literally choking him to death! 'He's powerful!' Jinta thought, desperately trying to push himself up with his arms, but it was no used, Ryosuke's spiritual pressure was simply too strong for him to handle.

Ryosuke eventually lowered his spiritual pressure, allowing Jinta to collapse freely on the ground. Jinta's eyes widened at the fierce spiritual pressure he'd just felt from the silver eyed boy.

'If he's that strong; then I don't even want to see how strong Naruto will turn out after he finishes his training' – Kisuke thought, knowing for a fact, if Ryosuke already this powerful, then Naruto's spiritual pressure will be truly frightening to say the least.

"Um…..Good job on completing your training Ryosuke-kun" – Ururu shyly complimented Ryosuke.

Ryosuke smirked: "YEAH! I'm already one step ahead of Uzumaki!" Ryosuke waved his ninjato swords around in a complete 360 spin. "I'm the best!"

Kisuke unsheathed his Zanpakuto: "Well actually, there's still one more test to complete!"

Ryosuke blinked twice at Kisuke. "You want to fight me?" he asked with a smirk on his lips, relishing the idea of testing out his new powers on Kisuke.

Kisuke smirked: "Let's see what you got" – Kisuke puts his fan away and gets into a stance.

"Alright" – Ryosuke commented. Ryosuke crouched down and placed his left leg forward, while extending his right leg back; his left arm also forward and right arm outstretched behind his back. "I've been meaning to kill you ever since you dropped me in that death pit!"

"Mine, mine, mine, don't be so impatience!" – Kisuke replied sarcastically.

"HEY! WHAT'S HAPPENING UP THERE?" – Naruto asked loudly, still struggling to free himself before he becomes a hollow.

Ryosuke and Kisuke ignored him and enraged in a stare-off, each trying to figure out the best way to defeat one another. Ryosuke smirked, knowing for a fact he had a hell of a battle on his hands.

* * *

**Elsewhere? – Mexico desert? – With Bear Hollow?**

Elsewhere in a deserted, dark, eerie place; where there was so much sand it was almost like it were a desert then everything else. There were faint splashes of blood spattered all over the ground, some dried up and some still wet, so clearly this site was where the strong survive and the weak perish!

"Grrrrrrrr!" There was a primal roar coming from a creature, whose body was shaped like a bear, he had a bony white mask on his face and his skin was a coal black color.

"What's wrong, Bobomaru" – came the voice of a man, or at least he looked like a man. He was wearing a white cloak covering his entire body and a hood over his face to hide his identity. "You seem angry, why is that, my hollow friend?" he asked rhetorically, smiling a huge grin on his face.

"Grrrrrrrr!" – The creature now known as Bobomaru the hollow roared angrily in response. "You know why! Because you let my meals get away two months ago!"

* * *

**Flashback - Two months ago**

_Bobomaru was lunging in on Naruto and Karin, determined to eat Naruto and gain his wonderful strength._

_"What!" - Bobomaru suddenly screamed in shock. Someone had appeared from literally out of nowhere, grabbed Bobomaru's arm and forcefully pulled him away from Naruto. "You" Bobomaru sneered angrily to the person who was dressed in an all-white cloak, and had a hood over his face to conceal his identity._

_"W-what," Naruto and Karin muttered in unison. Naruto had just been saved by some random person who came out of nowhere. "Who are you?!" - Naruto shouted at the person holding Bobomaru back with ease._

_The person merely nodded at Naruto. He then vanished along with the creature he was holding, like a hot candle being put out, leaving a battered Naruto and a bewildered Karin alone._

* * *

**End of flashback**

"They were my meals! And you stopped me from eating them!" – Bobomaru exclaimed angrily.

"You can't stand in the way of the boy's fate" – The man simply replied back to Bobomaru.

Bobomaru's eye twitched: "Whatever! I'm going back to the World of the Living to devour the boy and the girl whole!"

"You can't do that" – The man urged Bobomaru not to through with what he was thinking.

"Why?! Are you going to stop me, eh?!" Bobomaru taunted the man.

The man calmly sat there, not even saying a word to describe what he was thinking or feeling inside.

"Good!" – Bobomaru yelled. "You're either with us, or you're against us! Remember who you stand with!"

Bobomaru's hand suddenly flicked open space, causing the air itself to just rip open, like someone took out an invisible sword and sliced the air wide open! Bobomaru stepped through the strange, black portal, and disappeared entirely!

'Naruto' – The man thought to himself. 'I sure hope you're ready."

* * *

**The World of the Living – Karakura High School - With Rukia and Ichigo**

It was break time, and Rukia didn't hesitate to drag Ichigo to the rooftop to discuss his duties as a shinigami until her powers recover. Ichigo's friends were left bewildered to why Rukia; the new girl would drag Ichigo away! Orihime had a tiny worry her and Ichigo might be an item, the last thing Orihime would want was for her beloved Kurosaki-kun to fall for someone else now.

Ichigo scowled at Rukia: "Why are you here? And why can everyone see you?!" That was a fair question; it was only just last night that his father, Isshin, failed to "see", Rukia, when the woman was standing in front of him.

"Well, to answer your question, I'm in a gigai" – Rukia answered.

"Gigai?" – Ichigo replied with confusion written on his face. "What's the hell that!"

"An Artificial body that allows Shinigami to remain in the human world and interact with you "humans", you see" – Rukia explained nonchalantly.

Ichigo scowled: "Whatever! I don't see what you're doing here, I helped you out yesterday. As far as I'm concerned, I have no business with you anymore!"

"You idiot!" Rukia says harshly. "You're a shinigami now. You can't just abandon your duties!"

Ichigo wasn't listening to Rukia anymore; he'd convinced himself that he didn't need to help her anymore.

A vein popped out of Rukia's head: "I see, you want to do things the hard way" – Rukia quickly took out a red glove with a flaming skull in the middle of said glove. She placed the glove on her right hand.

"Eh" – Ichigo wondered. Ichigo half turned his head at Rukia, only to be slammed into his head by Rukia. "Aaaaaah!" – Ichigo's eyes widened as the blue lines of spiritual pressure appeared just on the sides of his body. Ichigo went skidding backwards, out of his body completely, his physical body fell to the ground while himself, now in his soul form, stood tall with the shihakusho he'd on that night he slayed that hollow, back on again; and with that massive broadsword sheathed to his back. "What the hell!? I didn't think I was a shinigami still!"

"Well, duh" – Rukia began in a mocking tone. "I did give you about 90% of my power, dumb-ass" – Rukia continued. Ichigo just scowled at her. "Now, let's begin shall…"

_Beep, beep._ There was a slight beeping sound coming from Rukia's pocket. Ichigo's raised an eyebrow when Rukia pulled out a phone and flipped it open. Ichigo was even more perplexed because Rukia's eyes widened like jelly.

'What the hell! This is can't be right! There's no way an ordinary hollow can be this strong' – Rukia thought, shivering a bit. It suddenly felt as if the air thickened and the ground began rumbling as if an elephant stampede was going on right.

"What's happening?!" – Ichigo demanded angrily of Rukia to tell him what's going on.

"Trouble on the horizon" – Rukia answered with her eyes narrowed. Ichigo gasped, he could tell by the seriousness of Rukia's voice that he was in for one hell of fight, that he may not be able to handle himself.

* * *

**Please review.**


	5. Speed of Lightning

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or Naruto.**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**Speed of Lightning!**

"What do you mean there's trouble on the horizon!" Ichigo growled at Rukia. Rukia had only just felt the tremendous presence of an unbelievable hollow, and had stated clearly, that there was trouble just around the corner. "Is there another one those "hollow" things I took out the other night?"

"Yes" – Rukia responded, through her narrowed eyes. "You can't beat this hollow… Ichigo." Ichigo let out a small gasp as Rukia stated this. "I've never felt this kind of immense spiritual pressure coming from an ordinary hollow before. I honestly don't see how you can beat it."

"Well if I can't beat this hollow, then who can. Huh?" Ichigo asked to which Rukia's eyes widened in response. "That thing must be stopped! Otherwise it might try and attack my family again! I can't let that happen!" Ichigo exclaimed, his eyes glowing with an undying, hard amount of determination.

"Ichigo…" Rukia commented softly, slightly taken aback by Ichigo's determination. "Ichigo, this hollow could attack other souls as well. You have to consider that a possibility as well," this time it was Ichigo's eyes that widened, the orange haired man didn't stop to take in the fact there were other souls he doesn't even know that need protecting from the hollows, and wasn't sure if he could risk his life for complete strangers. "It's your duty now, as a substitute shinigami to protect all souls and help them pass onto the Soul Society. Not just the ones you see fit to protect."

Ichigo took his time to ponder this. Could he really risk his life to save people he doesn't know! Was he a saint that goes around helping all the lost souls find their way to the Soul Society? Honestly, Ichigo did not know the answers to these questions! But he did know something, and that was this all powerful hollow had to be taken down, otherwise it could harm his friends! Ichigo would rather die first then allow his friends to get killed!

"Alright!" Ichigo spoke, after several moments of intense thinking. "Let's go kick some hollow's ass!"

Rukia smirked: "I take it you've decided to live up to your duty as a shinigami?"

"Unlikely!" Ichigo replied straightforwardly. Rukia's eyes widened. "It's just; I refuse to let my friends come in harm's way. If I have the strength to protect them, then I'll do just that" he spoke this with an burning resolve in his eyes.

"Ichigo…" Rukia could only softly whimper out the orange haired man's name, while staring at Ichigo like she'd only just saw him for the first time. Rukia smiled: "Let's get going then!"

"Right" – Ichigo fiercely nodded in response.

The ground once again underwent the vibration it'd gone only a few moments ago. The air thickened drastically, so tense one could cut the air with a knife. Rukia could only stiffen up, knowing the source of the spiritual pressure that was thickening the air itself.

"What's wrong?" Ichigo yelled loudly at Rukia. "Is it the hollow?"

"Grrrrrrrrrrr" – That was not Rukia's voice. It was a primal roar that could only be a hollow, that'd come to the world of the living to feast on some souls. Ichigo instinctively gripped the hilt of his Zanpakuto just as a huge; bear looking hollow appeared from literally out of nowhere!

'Fast!' Rukia thought, jumping back slightly. 'It's worst then I'd assumed! There's no way Ichigo could beat this hollow!"

Bobomaru the hollow, found himself searching frantically for Naruto, wanting to devour him to gain all that wonderful strength of his: "Where's my meal?"

Ichigo smirked, a rather cocky smirk: "Hey ugly" – He began, gaining Bobomaru's attention. "I personally would like to introduce you to the frontal part of my blade!"

"Don't get cocky Ichigo!" Rukia warned.

Bobomaru glanced at Ichigo with a gleam in his eye. "A shinigami" - Bobomaru's lips curved into a smirk. "Mmmmm. You'll do as a fine starter for the main course!"

Ichigo tilted his head to the side cockily, "Oh really?" Ichigo inquired in a mocking tone. "Well, I got news for you, and that's you won't be eating me or anyone else ever again!"

Bobomaru looked ferociously at Ichigo, "Foolish shinigami!" Bobomaru roared. "As if a mere shinigami could defeat me!"

Ichigo smirked: "We'll never know until I try" – Ichigo, without thinking, ran straight at Bobomaru, fully determined to take him down.

"Be careful Ichigo!" Rukia exclaimed loudly. She could do nothing but watch as Ichigo outstretched his arm back, gripping the hilt of his Zanpakuto as tight as he could, and in one ultra-fast motion, bought the big broadsword from his back and swirled it around like a madman, intending to slice Bobomaru to pieces!

Bobomaru seen Ichigo coming from miles away, and as such, could easily dodge his pathetic attempts to land a blow on him, by back flipping backwards, leaving Ichigo to grunt in frustration. Unfortunately for Ichigo, Bobomaru came right back at him, closing the distance between them with his patented Sonido, shocking Rukia greatly of his speed.

Rukia gasped immensely, 'Fast!' Rukia thought, her eyes widening.

Bobomaru quickly stretched his fist back, and before Ichigo could even react, Bobomaru whaled him with a tremendous straight left hook that connected straight into (Ichigo's) his face!

"Urghhhh!" Ichigo grunted loudly, as the force of the blow sent him hurling over the school gate, crash landing into a local park with a thud! "Damn it!" Ichigo growled loudly, the debris dust surfaced around him from the hard landing. A shout from Rukia quickly alerted Ichigo of the incoming hollow that was Bobomaru. "Shit!"

Ichigo was forced to react quickly when Bobomaru came lunging in on him, holding his two hollow hands together, intending to smash Ichigo's head into the ground, as if hammering a nail into the wall! Needless to say, Ichigo was able to roll out of the way, just as Bobomaru crashed into the ground!

The ground had tiny little spider cracks where Bobomaru crashed into it: "Hehe!" Bobomaru let out a menacing chuckle. "Just the way I like my starters, flexible! You'll make for a fine starter, shinigami!"

'This thing's insane!' Ichigo thought, a bead of sweat ran down his cheek. Ichigo was again forced on the defence as Bobomaru came charging at him with an overwhelming desire to fill his belly a little before looking for the main course! Ichigo, reacting on instinctive, held out his sword, only just about blocking Bobomaru's fierce claw attack. Ichigo's eyes widened, feeling the strength of this hollow, and knowing for a fact, he'll be devoured if he makes even one mistake!

Ichigo, using all the strength he possessed, just about managed to parry Bobomaru's arm to the side. Taking full advantage of a wide open Bobomaru, Ichigo bought his sword (Zanpakuto) down on the hollow, hoping to do serious damage with this one attack!

"What!" A shocked expression was written all over Ichigo's face. Somehow Bobomaru had managed to blur out of existence, like he wasn't even there to begin with. "Where'd h…" That was all Ichigo could let out because Bobomaru reappeared in like a split second and a half, zooming his fist in on Ichigo with furiously! "Hrughh!" Ichigo grunted loudly as saliva escaped his mouth and he went skidding across the dirt ground of the park, shattering the ground along the way to his stop against the fence. "Damn!" Ichigo cursed, keeping one eye shut from the soaring pain he was feeling.

"Mwhahahaha!" Bobomaru laughed evilly, relishing every moment of seeing Ichigo fighting for his life before he (Bobomaru) devoured him, absorbing his strength for himself, "You're mine… shinigami!" Bobomaru roared with sheer ferociously evident in his voice.

Bobomaru, using Sonido, fazes out, reappearing behind Ichigo just as the orange haired man was steadily getting back up to his feet.

Ichigo frantically searched for Bobomaru, not realizing the hollow had already sped behind him at super-sonic speed. "He's behind you Ichigo!" Rukia yelled, running into the park to support Ichigo. Ichigo could only sharply turn his head over his shoulder before Bobomaru sent him hurling towards the sky with one raging punch to his chin!

"Ichigo!" Rukia screamed, noticing Ichigo spit out blood from the immense force Bobomaru used to smash him into the air with.

As Ichigo went soaring through the sky, simultaneously going through a series of flips, his vision obviously blurry from the momentum of the spinning; Bobomaru easily got behind Ichigo using the Sonido technique. Rukia could only gasp in fear as Bobomaru slammed his forearm directly into Ichigo's head, not only busting the back of Ichigo's head wide open from the force he packed into his blow, but the hollow also sent Ichigo crashing into the ground with so much force Ichigo made a mini crater where he crashed into.

Rukia held her hands on her chest, "Ichigo!" Rukia shouted worriedly for Ichigo's safety, seeing the blood trickling down the back of Ichigo's head.

"Damn it!" Ichigo cursed, slowly reaching for his sword, which he dropped after slamming into the ground at the force which made the crater he was in.

Bobomaru landed on the ground with a heavy thud! He flexed his muscles and gave Ichigo a sickening smile. Bobomaru could feel his blood coursing through his veins at the prospect of absorbing Ichigo and gaining his wonderful strength. The gleam never left Bobomaru's eye as he watched Ichigo struggled to get back up to his feet.

Ichigo just barely managed to stand up to his feet. "Huff, huff," Ichigo panted heavily, holding his sword firmly in front of himself. Rukia could only watch on helplessly, cursing herself for not being able to help Ichigo.

* * *

**Karakura Middle School - With Yuzu and Karin**

The two Kurosaki twins had just finished their meal. Both were wondering why their friend Naruto, and his rival Ryosuke hadn't turned up for school today.

"Karin-chan, where do you think Uzumaki-kun and Kagoshima-san are today?" Yuzu asked her sister. "I can't help but worry about Uzumaki-kun" – she added.

"You know them. They're probably just fighting like they always do." Karin offered a shrug of her shoulders.

Yuzu looked sceptical. "Do you really think Uzumaki-kun and Kagoshima-san would be fighting for this long?"

"Probably" – Karin replied, nonchalantly.

"I don't understand why you two hang out with that good for nothing Naruto-kid anyway" – This was neither Karin's nor Yuzu's voice that'd spoke. It was their other friend Kako. "Yuzu-chan, you're such a gorgeous girl. You could have any boy you desire. So why waste your time on Naruto for?"

Yuzu just ignored her. To her, Naruto was the greatest boy on the planet, and every other boy paled in comparison to him. 'Uzumaki-kun' – Yuzu cooed in her mind, touching her heart slightly. Yuzu could remember the first day she'd met Naruto.

* * *

**Flashback - Six years ago.**

In a park, there was a little boy who had bright blond hair, three cat-like whisker-marks on each of his cheeks, cerulean blue eyes and he was wearing a white t shirt, black shorts that reached his knees and black sandals on his feet. He looked like he had just ascended into the level of a super saiyan.

"Yay, I'm having fun" – The little boy cheered happily, as he roll over in the sand box.

"Be careful Naruto-chan" – The little boy's grandmother, who was sitting on a branch watching her grandson play in the sand box, warned him.

"I will grandma Tomoyo!" The little boy now known as Naruto responded, grinning a fox-like grin on his face. "Yay!" Naruto cheered happily as he threw sand up in the air.

"Hehe" – Tomoyo let out a little warm heartened chuckle. "At least he's having fun!" The sound of a couple of footsteps alerted Tomoyo of incoming people. Tomoyo smiled warmly once she recognized who had walked into the park. "Isshin-kun" – She greeted her once young student now fully grown and had two daughters with him.

"Ah" – Isshin smiled back at his old teacher. "Miss Tomoyo-chan! How have you been?" – Isshin asked this while hugging his once young, now very old teacher.

"It's Ms, Isshin-kun. You were always bad at English" – Tomoyo exclaimed in a joking manner. And Isshin rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "And who might these two be?" Tomoyo kneeled down to the two little girls standing by Isshin's legs.

One had short brown hair and brown eyes filled with innocent, and she was wearing a pink dress with marching sandals. The other one had jet-black hair that fell to her shoulders, like her sister's, her eyes was dark colored and she had a consistent deadpanned expression written all over her face. She was wearing a blue t shirt, black shorts and marching trainers on her feet.

"I'm Yuzu. And this is my sister, Karin" – The girl with the brown hair introduced herself and her sister now known as Karin. "And we're five years old!" She energetically held up five fingers.

"Awwww" – Tomoyo cooed out, ruffing Yuzu's and Karin's hair. Yuzu softly giggled while Karin just scowled at her, "They're precious! They are not much younger then my own grandson, Naruto."

"What" – Isshin sounded a little shocked; he never realized his old teacher had a grandchild. "You have a grandson?"

"Well, yes" – Tomoyo pointed to the sand box where Naruto was happily playing with the sand. "Right over there. He's only six!"

"I wonder why he's playing on his own?" Yuzu pondered. "I'm going to go play with him" – Yuzu dashed off towards Naruto, intending to become good friends with him, her sister, Karin shortly followed.

"Hahahahaha!" Isshin laughed loudly and with his hands on his hips. "Our children are going to be such good friends!"

"Isshin-kun, you really shouldn't let your kids run off like that" – Tomoyo exclaimed knowingly. "You know what I mean!"

"It's okay!" Isshin brushed off her worries. "As long as daddy's close by then nothing bad can happen to them!"

"Okay" – Tomoyo nervously responded, as a bead of sweat ran down the back of her head.

"Hmm, hmm" – Little Naruto hummed happily to himself. Nothing could ever get this happy kid down. "All finish!"

"Hello" – A girl's voice got young Naruto's attention. "How are you?"

Naruto stood up to be greeted by two little girls. One had brown hair and the other had black hair. "Oh, I'm fine!" Naruto responded, smiling.

"I'm Kurosaki Yuzu by the way!" Yuzu introduced herself to the little blond haired boy. "What's yours?" She asked.

"Uzumaki Naruto" Naruto replied with a happy nod and smile on his face.

Yuzu smiled: "Let's be friends!" she offered, holding out her left hand.

"Okay!" Naruto replied, firmly shaking Yuzu's hand. Both kids smiled happily at each other, earning themselves smiles from Tomoyo and Isshin in the process.

And that was the start of Naruto's and Yuzu's friendship.

* * *

**End of flashback**

Yuzu smiled sadly at the memory. She wanted to introduce Naruto to her mum, Kurosaki Masaki. But unfortunately she died that exact same night, picking up Ichigo from karate class. It remained a mystery how Masaki, the centre of the Kurosaki family's world, died in the first place. And if it wasn't for Naruto, Yuzu was certain she wouldn't have been able to move on from her mother tragedy death. The blond always cheered her up even when she was most down. Naruto the one that could raise her spirits; even when he was lifting up her and Karin's skirts, Naruto was always the guy Yuzu wanted around when she was feeling down. But now, Naruto wasn't here, and that worried Yuzu to no ends what so ever.

The sound of the bell going off alerted Yuzu and Karin that it was time for class.

"Come on Yuzu, we don't want to be late for class" – Karin exclaimed, also ignoring her friend's hate comment about Naruto.

Haters got to hate!

Yuzu hummed in agreement with her twin sister, and with that, both girls made their way to class.

"I wonder what Mr S looks like after the beating Naruto gave him" – Karin noted it'd be their first time seeing Mr S since his fight with Naruto.

"Hmm" – Yuzu hummed in agreement with her sister. Both girls then took their places at each of their desks, eagerly waiting until Mr S walked into the room.

It took a few minutes until Mr S walked into his classroom. And once he did there were huge gasps coming from all of the kids in the classroom, Mr S' whole right eye looked to be in a terrible condition; just a huge purple and blue lump covering his entire right eye.

"What" – Mr S commented, noticing all the kids gawking at him. "Have any of you got a problem with me?" All the kids shifting their eyes from Mr S to their text books, Mr S sat down by his own desk, in front of the classroom. 'I'll get you for this… Uzumaki Naruto.'

"I see why Naruto and Ryosuke haven't show up for school today" – A kid murmured to his friend, so Mr S wouldn't hear him. "They must have been in one hell of a fight with Mr S."

Mr S heard the boy perfectly well. A shocked expression was written all over Mr S' face, no matter how hard he tried to suppress it. 'Uzumaki and Kagoshima haven't show up for school today' – Mr S thought this as a devious smirk slowly curved onto his lips. 'Haha' – Mr S held his hands menacingly together. 'I will have my revenge on you… Naruto. Oh believe me, vengeance will be mine!'

Yuzu gulped, seeing the devious smirk on Mr S' face. 'Naruto…' Yuzu thought, becoming increasingly worried for Naruto, and she wasn't the only one that was worried for Naruto, her sister, Karin, was also looking worried for Naruto.

Naruto's school life wasn't looking too good, and Yuzu and Karin have no idea that Naruto's life overall was not looking too good!

* * *

**Urahara Shoten – Basement – Kisuke vs Ryosuke**

Ryosuke and Kisuke had been going at it for a good few minutes now. Kisuke had been impressed overall with the amount of skill Ryosuke possessed. Truly remarkable considering he'd only just became a shinigami about ten minutes ago. Seriously, if he was this strong, then Naruto was going to blow the whole town away with his power alone! Luckily Kisuke had been prepared for the day Naruto would become a shinigami. It was like a hutch of some sort, ever since meeting the one who dropped baby Naruto off at Tomoyo's place. Kisuke just got a feeling that Naruto would need some… "Help", in the controlling your spiritual pressure department.

Naruto tried stretching his head to see what was happening, "What's going on up there?!" – Naruto yelled loudly, still struck in the deep pit that was shattered shaft. "I can't see shit!"

"Just Ryosuke fighting Kisuke… Dumbass!" Jinta commented loudly at the tied up Naruto.

A tick mark popped out of Naruto's head: "When I get out of here I'm going to eradicate you!"

"Yeah, yeah whatever" – Jinta replied, nonchalantly. Jinta shifted his eyes back at the direction where both Kisuke and Ryosuke were fighting it out. "Huh" – He wondered, seeing both of them looking up towards the sky with serious expressions written all over their faces.

"You sensed that Ryosuke-san?" Kisuke asked.

"Yeah, it is a hollow?" – Ryosuke asked back. "It's strong alright!"

"Hmm" – Kisuke hummed in confirmation. "It's a hollow alright. Probably fighting another shinigami!"

Ryosuke's eyes widened: "What!? Then we got to go help him. Surely he can't defeat such a beast by himself. But I can, because I'm Ryosuke and I'm the greatest! Not Uzumaki! Watch as I take-down this clown effortlessly" – Ryosuke boasted. Ryosuke gripped the hilts of his two Zanpakutos and ran out of the basement and out of the Urahara Shoten, with only one thing on his mind, and that was to defeat this hollow and proved to Naruto that he was better than him.

"Well, there he goes" – Kisuke exclaimed in a relax manner. Kisuke walked over to the edge of Shattered Shaft where Naruto currently lied, "How you doing there, Naruto?" – He asked rhetorically

A vein popped out of Naruto's cheek: "What does it look like old man? Damn it, how do I get out of here, how'd Ryosuke-teme do it?!"

"You best find a way out, Naruto. Otherwise, we'll be forced to kill you once you become a hollow" – Kisuke commented, narrowing his eyes.

"Nooooooo!" Naruto yelled.

The Encroachments must have decided that enough was enough, because they instantly stopped screwing around, and devoured the rest of Naruto's soul chain within two seconds… Easy!

Naruto paled: "Oh shit!" Naruto said this just as a milky purple colored substance engulfed his entire body! "Aaaaaaah! What's going on?!" Naruto exploded in an incredible amount of menacingly spiritual pressure, so great it slammed Tessai into the wall of Shattered Shaft.

Tessai's eyes widened: "What is this? This can't be the hollowfication! It's too powerful and too different! Urahara-dono what should we do? If we allow him to evolve he could possibly destroy the whole world!"

"What!" – Jinta gasped at the claim. "Who the hell is this guy?!"

"Naruto, you have to gain control over yourself! Reach your Zanpakuto spirit!" – Kisuke shouted, hoping Naruto could regain control over his body.

"Aaaaaah!" Naruto screamed violently as the purple substance threatened to turn him into a hollow. 'I can't become a hollow. No, no, no. What about Yuzu, Karin and Grandma Tomoyo. I can't eat them, I can't!" Naruto stated, desperately trying not to become a hollow or whatever he was becoming. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!" Naruto let out a huge scream as his aura pancaked Tessai further into the wall and knocked Kisuke, Jinta and Ururu off of their feet. "Aaaaaaahhh!" Naruto's devilish power was so great it shook the ground to the core! 'No, I can't. I can't let this thing take-over' – Naruto thought. Naruto's shirt suddenly ripped off of him, his muscles bulked up, his skin began to turn purple, 'no!' – Naruto roared in his mind, feeling his consciousness slipping away. As Naruto began to slowly turn into something so sinister it'd Kisuke picking up Ururu and Jinta, and flash-stepping out of the basement before Naruto's power crushed them to death! An image of brown eyes filled with innocent flashed through Naruto's mind. 'Yuzu!' Memories of him and Yuzu flashed through his mind. Days where Naruto protected Yuzu from bullies, days where Naruto cheered up Yuzu when she was feeling down and just plain old days where Naruto lifted up Yuzu's skirt. Yep, those were the good days. "And there's going to more of them days, because I am not going to die today! Ditto!" Naruto roared with such determination anyone would be proud of him.

Naruto refused to give up. Naruto refused to allow himself to become some demon eater, going around eating innocent souls! Hell no! He'd protect all those souls, if Kisuke says shinigamis were the guidance for souls to pass onto the "Soul Society", and then he'd be that guidance! Naruto would never allow any hollow of any kind to even try to devour any soul! He'd eradicate any hollow that dared to attack Yuzu and Karin, hell; he'd destroy any hollow that even attempted to eat any human soul! Uzumaki Naruto would protect everyone with his power and aim to be the best shinigami he could be, and that was his vow. "And I'll keep it" – Naruto said out loud. Never allowing himself to give up the struggle to fight off the hollowfication process he was going through.

"**I'm impressed by your determination, young Uzumaki**" – Naruto raised an eyebrow, once he heard a calm, relax voice within his head. "**Do not be worried Uzumaki. I will help you fight off the hollowfication stage you're going through. Then I will fight by your side, Uzumaki**" – At the last words the voice spoke, Naruto's lips curved into a huge smile. Naruto may score last on a test, but that didn't mean he was a total fool, he knew who had spoken, and was very eager to finally meet him; the voice would suggest he was a male.

* * *

**Ichigo vs. Bobomaru**

The battle between Ichigo and hollow Bobomaru had been raging on for a few more minutes now, and as much as it pained Rukia to admit; Ichigo was absolutely no match for Bobomaru's tremendous strength and power. Bobomaru had Ichigo far outclassed, outmatched and outfought in every department. Strength, agility, destructive power and speed… Oh speed went to Bobomaru all day, every day of the week. Sonido… Poor Ichigo didn't stand a chance against Bobomaru, in fact, Bobomaru had been toying with Ichigo this entire time, and he could have easily devoured the orange haired shinigami ten times over by now, but chose to take his time.

"Aaaaaaah!" Ichigo screamed as Bobomaru got behind him using sonido, and clobbered him down to the ground with one punch to the back. Ichigo went rolling across the hard floor before slowly skidding to a stop.

"Ichigoooooooooo!" Rukia yelled, feeling helpless that she could do nothing but watch Ichigo get completely annihilated by this monstrous hollow. "Damn it! It's my fault for forcing him into this situation."

Ichigo stabbed his sword into the ground, and gripped the hilt of his sword, slowly lifting himself up, using his sword as leverage.

"Huff, huff" – Ichigo panted heavily. "Damn it!"

"Hahahahahahahaha!" Bobomaru laughed loudly. "That's right shinigami, bow before my power, and wallow in fear before you become part of greatest… Shinigami!" Bobomaru dashed towards Ichigo again, ignoring Rukia's pleas begging him to stop. Bobomaru swiftly hurled himself up in the air, bringing his knees close to his chest, "die!" – Bobomaru dropped his legs directly at Ichigo's chest.

Ichigo, reacting on pour instinctive; half turned his body and extended his sword horizontally in front of himself. Sparks could be seen radiating off of Ichigo's sword when Bobomaru's leg connected with Ichigo's sword. "Yes, yes, yes. That's it shinigami, keep fighting, that way I'll have better satisfaction once I devour your soul… Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"

Bobomaru grabbed Ichigo already bloodied up head. "Die!" Bobomaru smashed his own head straight into Ichigo's head, making Ichigo grunt loudly from Bobomaru's head-butt. Ichigo's blood was oozing out of his forehead from the immense beating he'd received at the hands of Bobomaru. Bobomaru slammed Ichigo off of the ground, Ichigo bounced off of the ground as if he were a basketball. Once he was level with Bobomaru; Bobomaru whaled him with a tremendous punch, which sent him soaring across the park like a football being blasted out of bounds.

"Ichigo!" Rukia screamed as she ran over to Ichigo's side and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Let's get out of here Ichigo. You're no match for this hollow. It'll be better if-"

"No" – Ichigo's weak voice startled Rukia. "N-No. He's already a lot faster than I am. So, if I were to run, he'd just catch me. But the way I see it, if I'm stronger than he is, then I'll just beat his ass!"

Bobomaru's eye twitched: "Foolish shinigami, as if you could defeat me. You've barely even touched me! You're my starter, so just accept your death already and get in my mouth!" – Bobomaru roared. "You cannot beat me shinigami!"

"Maybe he can't, but I can!" – Rukia, Ichigo and Bobomaru all turned their heads to the side to be greeted by another shinigami. "Kagoshima Ryosuke at your service!"

Ichigo's eyes widened: "What the hell? Another shinigami?" He turned his head to look at Rukia. "Did you know about this?"

"I'm just as confused as you are" – Rukia replied. Rukia observed the shinigami that just walked into the battlefield, no less. Noticing he was a lot taller than her, had brown shaggy hair and silver colored eyes. His facial features would suggest he was about 13 to 14 years old. "Strange, why would the Gotei Thirteen send a boy no older then Captain-Hitsugaya to the world of the living" – Rukia mused to herself.

Ryosuke unsheathed his two Zanpakutos out of his scabbards, which were on his hips. "I guess it's my turn to fight now."

"Wait" – Ichigo interrupted. "You can't fight that thing. You don't know how powerful he is."

Ryosuke smirked: "I think I'll do better then you, kid."

"What?" Ichigo's response was an angry scowl, the boy had some nerve calling him a kid when he, himself was probably not much older than his sisters, Yuzu and Karin. "Who in the hell do you think you are? Calling me, kid? Kid!"

"Hehe" – Ryosuke only laughed in response, which had a tick mark appearing on Ichigo's forehead. "Let's do this you freak!" – Ryosuke held his light blue hilted Zanpakuto at Bobomaru while keeping the other one fixating at his side. "I'm going to whoop your ass and rub it in Uzumaki's face later. That's if he doesn't become a hollow later!"

"Uzumaki" – Ichigo repeated as if he didn't hear right the first time around. "WAIT!" – Ichigo shouted as if he'd just remembered something. "Are you trying to say you know Uzumaki Naruto?" Ichigo inquired, "My sister Yuzu's friend?"

"Well duh" – Ryosuke responded in a mocking tone. "I go to school with them, man you're slow, ginger."

Ticks appeared all over Ichigo's face: "You bastard! You aren't no difference then me… You freakish… Silver eyed… Eagle-boy."

Ryosuke smirked, "Great comeback bleach-boy!" Ryosuke coolly shot back.

Ichigo gritted his teeth, "Urgh!" Ichigo grunted angrily. "I hate this kid!"

Rukia and even Bobomaru both felt the sweat drop off of the back of their heads at the two.

"Grrrrrrrrr!" Bobomaru roared, gaining everyone's attention. "Let's finish this already. So I can devour all your souls!" Bobomaru dashed towards Ryosuke, fully focused on devouring his, Ichigo's and Rukia's souls before locating Naruto for his soul and power.

"Hehe" – Ryosuke let out a cocky laugh. "Someone's in a hurry!" He sarcastically exclaimed. Ryosuke was a little caught off guard by Bobomaru's speed, and was forced to react quickly when Bobomaru threw a sharp, quick punch aimed directly at his face; Ryosuke blocked this by extending his two Zanpakutos in front of his face. "You're better than I thought," Ryosuke admitted.

"Grrrrr!" Bobomaru roared loudly, forcing Ryosuke back with sheer strength alone.

Ryosuke's eyes widened a little in response to this. Ryosuke did a back-flip, putting some distance between them. "Here goes nothing" – Ryosuke took a quick breath, then charged at Bobomaru, swinging his Zanpakutos around in circles like a hobo on crack swinging two sticks around.

"Haha" – Bobomaru laughed at Ryosuke's weak style. Bobomaru easily pivoted away from Ryosuke's wild sword slashes. "You can't beat me like that, little man" – Bobomaru spoke this while simultaneously ducking under a scissors slash aimed at his head by Ryosuke. "Ha!" With a fierce yell Bobomaru buried his fist straight into Ryosuke's abdomen.

"Arghhhh!" A mixture of saliva and blood escaped Ryosuke's mouth from Bobomaru's attack. "Damn" – Ryosuke cursed. Ryosuke quickly managed to impale his knee directly into Bobomaru's face, before the hollow had time to disconnect himself from Ryosuke after slamming his fist into the silver eyed boy's abdomen.

Bobomaru slightly flinched from that attack. He then disappeared like the wind using the patented Sonido technique. Ryosuke could only gasp, witnessing the hollow's speed. Ryosuke didn't even have the time to put up his guard before Bobomaru reappeared before him; crashing his elbow straight into Ryosuke's head.

"Aaaaaaaah!" Ryosuke screamed loudly as his head was busted wide open from Bobomaru's fierce attack on his skull. Ryosuke swung his green hilted Zanpakuto at Bobomaru, in an almost desperate bid to strike him down. Bobomaru, using sonido, sped way back, several feet away from Ryosuke, receiving a look of confusion from Ryosuke in the process.

Bobomaru quickly soared towards Ryosuke, at the speed of a moving bullet. Ryosuke had no time to dodge because Bobomaru had already sent him hurling ten feet backwards just after he blinked. "Argghhhh" – Ryosuke grunted painfully, spiralling out of control before hitting and breaking the slide, there by coming to an abrupt halt. "Damn it!" Ryosuke cursed, keeping one eye shut.

"Shouldn't you be helping him?" Rukia asked Ichigo.

Ichigo shrugged his shoulders. "Na, the little bastard deserves a good beating first," Rukia nodded in agreement with Ichigo.

Bobomaru hurled himself up in the air. "Die!" - He yelled as he aimed to crush Ryosuke's body just like a cake.

Ryosuke rolled out of the way, making sure to pick up his two Zanpakutos before Bobomaru flattened them.

"Damn!" Ryosuke cursed. "There's no way I'm going to lose to some lame-ass hollow!"

Rukia, deadpanned: "Oh really, you already seem to be losing to me!"

Ryosuke blushed slightly from frustration: "Shut up!"

Ryosuke was forced to dodge when Bobomaru came lunging in on him with a fierce round-house punch. Ryosuke came right back at Bobomaru, swinging his blue hilted Zanpakuto in an overhead manner before swinging his green hilted Zanpakuto in the same manner. Bobomaru vanished via sonido, leaving Ryosuke to hit thin air, and grunt in frustration. Ryosuke received a shout from Rukia, warning him that Bobomaru reappeared just above him; Ryosuke gazed up for a spit second only to be nailed into the ground by a heel kick from Bobomaru.

"Aaaaaaaah!" Ryosuke screamed and the ground shattered when he hit into it. The blood also flew out of Ryosuke's nose. Ryosuke crawled onto his left knee. "I won't lose to some hollow. And allow Uzumaki to rub it in my face" – Ryosuke did an aerobically front-flip, actually managing to catch Bobomaru by surprise, taking full advantage of this, Ryosuke drove the tip of his Zanpakuto straight into Bobomaru's chest; slicing Bobomaru from his left shoulder down to his right waist.

"Arghhhhhhhhh!" – Bobomaru grunted loudly, as blood flew out of his open wound made by Ryosuke.

Ichigo's eyes widened, "What!?" Ichigo was a little taken aback, he never expected the kid to be able to land a clean blow on Bobomaru like that. "How the hell did he do that?"

Rukia smirked: "Guess you won't be needed after all, Ichigo" – She exclaimed in a teasing manner.

"Whatever" – Ichigo responded in an "I-don't-care-way".

Bobomaru was furious! How could he, a great hollow, allow some shinigami, to strike him like that? "That's it" – Bobomaru, using sonido, closed the distance between Ryosuke and himself. Ryosuke could only gasp at the sheer speed of hollow Bobomaru; before the raging hollow grabbed him by the front of his shirt, and began whaling on him with such ferociously he'd the blood spattering out of Ryosuke's head and nose.

Ichigo gripped the hilt of his Zanpakuto, just as Bobomaru decided he was done using Ryosuke's face as a punching bag, and slammed the silver eyed boy so hard off of the ground; he bounced off the concrete floor as if he was no more than a dodge-ball to the powerful hollow.

"Foolish shinigami" – Bobomaru commented harshly. "You dare to even attempt to cut me. Preposterous! You will pay for your insolence" - Bobomaru ran at Ryosuke, intending to end this fight once and for all.

"D-Damn" – Ryosuke stammered, his face was bruised up badly from Bobomaru's assault on his face. Purple and black lumps covered Ryosuke's eyebrows. "I failed" – Ryosuke realized he can't beat Bobomaru at his current strength level, "How can I beat Uzumaki, when I can't even defeat one hollow?!" Ryosuke screamed to the heavens. Bobomaru was closing in on Ryosuke; Ryosuke expected to feel pain, he waited for it, he'd not run away from his death, he'd die like a true warrior, a warrior with regret, but a true warrior none the less. After a few seconds, Ryosuke did not feel any pain! Was the bastard hollow just trying to torture him? Eh? Ryosuke gazed up to see a head of orange hair standing in front of him.

"Hey kid" – Ichigo said over his shoulder at the downed form of Ryosuke. Somehow Ichigo had managed to push Bobomaru back with that massive broadsword in his hand. "I guess he's too much for ya, eh." – Ichigo added, mockingly.

A tick mark appeared on Ryosuke's cheek. "Shut up. He's just lucky that's all! I'm stronger than him!"

"Yeah, yeah" – Ichigo replied like Ryosuke chatting shit and he was just pretended to agree. "I know you have your "pride", and all. But what do you say you put that to the side and we work together to take out this hollow."

Ryosuke smirked: "Hehe, see, you need my help, you can't do this on your own, ginger."

A vein popped out of Ichigo's cheek: "Damn it kid I just saved your life for fuck sake. The least you could do is show a little more gratitude."

"Whatever" – Ryosuke replied as if he didn't care that Ichigo saved his life. "Let's just hurry and end this thing already."

Ichigo smirked: "Now, was that so hard" – Ichigo commented and Ryosuke just sent him a glare, telling him to shut up.

"Two against one, is it?" Bobomaru inquired. A smirk formed on Bobomaru's lips. "I like them odds! This will prove that hollows rule supreme over shinigamis!"

Bobomaru fazed out before the lads even had time to respond to his claim. Once Bobomaru reappeared, he began rapidly zooming around both Ichigo and Ryosuke so fast it looked like there were twenty Bobomaru's spinning around them.

"Damn!" Ichigo cursed, his eyes frantically searching for the real Bobomaru. "He can make clones now!"

"No you idiot! That's his speed alone! He's moving so fast he's leaving afterimages of himself!" – Ryosuke exclaimed harshly, shifting his eyes around the endless number of afterimages being left by Bobomaru. "This speed! He must be moving at hyper-sonic speed to be able to leave afterimages of himself!"

"What!" Ichigo yelled, his eyes widening. "Then how the hell-" That was all Ichigo could say before Bobomaru drop-kicked him into his gut, sending him spinning away in furious style.

"Ginger/Ichigo!" Ryosuke and Rukia both called out simultaneously and with concern coloring their voices. "You monster I-" This time Ryosuke never got any time to finish before Bobomaru struck his fist directly into his gut! "Argggghhhhh!" – A cup-load of blood flew out of Ryosuke's mouth. "N-Not good" – Ryosuke scowled out, his words sounding strained. Bobomaru slammed his palm into Ryosuke's face, sending him hurling backwards just from the force he packed into his palm strike. Ryosuke bounced off of the ground before skidding to a stop next to Ichigo.

"Ichigo, Ryosuke!" – Rukia called out worriedly, cursing her weakness for not being able to help them fight off Bobomaru's overwhelming power. Things do not look good for Kurosaki Ichigo and Kagoshima Ryosuke… Hurry up, Naruto!

* * *

**With Naruto**

"Where am I?" Naruto asked himself. The last thing he could remember, he was desperately trying to fight off the hollowfication or devil transformation thing he was under-going. Now, he suddenly found himself frantically analysing his surroundings for a hint to where he'd ended up. "Whoa" – He ended up gawking around his surroundings. Naruto was surrounded by plenty of sand, and lots of it. But yet, it felt so far down, almost as if Naruto was standing on a really high tower. "Whoa!" – Naruto just discovered he was standing on a huge, triangle sized pyramid, which was consistently floating up in the air. Well that'd explain why the sand felt so far away. But yet, the pyramid Naruto was on seemed to be tilted on its side, allowing Naruto to freely stand on it. "Awesome!"

"**I'm glad you like it, young Uzumaki**" Came the same calm voice that dragged Naruto in his own mind.

Naruto sharply turned his head to look at the speaker. He was left speechless upon seeing who was going to be his Zanpakuto spirit. It was a man, or at least it appeared to be a sort of man-animal kind of thing. He had orange fur and black stripes covering his orange fur, piercing yellow eyes shaped like a cat's, and deadly sharp fangs for teeth. "Tiger" – Naruto easily came to the conclusion that his Zanpakuto was a tiger-man. The tiger man's appearance consisted of a black undershirt, yellow Gi top over said shirt, marching yellow Gi trousers and black sandals on his feet. "Whoa! I have a tiger as a Zanpakuto!"

The tiger-man remained calm and collective despite Naruto's hyperactive attitude: **"Naruto, do you know why I bought you here****?****"**

"Uhmm" – Naruto just had to take a quick second to remind himself. "Oh y…" Naruto trailed off when something fell on his head. "Ow, what was that?" – Naruto glanced up towards the sky. His eyes widened seeing tiny pieces of the sky falling down on him, "Holy shit!"

"**The hollowfication stage is nearing its end. When that happens, you will become a hollow**"

"Then how do we stop it?!" Naruto asked.

"**You must find me, Naruto**" - The tiger stated to the confusion of Naruto. He was standing right in front of him. wasn't he? "**And before you say, you're standing in front of ****me;**** you must find me in my weapon form. Then you'll be able to break the hollowfication****.****"**

"OK. That makes sense I guess" – Naruto commented. Naruto watched in fascination as the tiger-man snapped his fingers. Suddenly a ton of white boxes began raining down in super slow motion mode. "What the hell?" – Naruto was left even more confused when the pyramid he was on suddenly tilted upright and he was sent falling, slow motion style, towards the ground, "How the hell can I find my blade like this?!"

"**Find me Naruto. Or you will become a hollow! If that happens I'm not sure if anyone will be able to stop you from annihilating the planet**" – The tiger man commented.

"Damn I'm powerful! I almost scare myself sometimes!" – Naruto exclaimed in a joking manner, before focusing on finding his Zanpakuto so he could break free of the hollowfication and return home to eat his grandma's cooking.

Naruto's eyes shifted frantically around the infinite number of white boxes. He opened up one, only to find it was empty. "Damn it!" Naruto opened up another box, only again to be left frustrated. "All these stupid boxes are the same color! How can I find my Zanpakuto like this?"

Naruto desperately opened up box after box after box, just hoping he could find his Zanpakuto already and get back to teasing Yuzu… Yuzu! "She needs me. I can't die here. I'm no quitter!" – A powerful blue colored aura surrounded Naruto's body! "SCREW THIS STUPID TEST I'M GETTING OUT OF HERE!" – Naruto exploded in an incredible burst of spiritual pressure that knocked all of the boxes (barring one) away. "Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!" – Naruto roared to the top of his lungs.

The tiger man's eyes widened: "Such tremendous power! He's broken the hollowfication without finding me!" – The world around Naruto suddenly began to go white. The last words the blond heard before he went out of his mind were… "**Hear my name Naruto**** it's…**** Raijin Yasuhiro! And I will gr****ant you the power of LIGHTNING!"**

* * *

**Outside of Naruto's mind**

**Ka-boom!** And in an impressive, ferocious amount of spiritual pressure, Naruto broke his hollow form and gracefully flipped out of the ruined Shattered Shaft wearing an all-black Shihakusho, held closed by a white sash tied around his waist; he was wearing sandals on his feet too

"Ah, I see you've finally managed to break free of the hollowfication," Naruto turned his head to the side, only to be greeted by a relax looking Kisuke. "Some power."

Naruto gazed at himself. A smile grew on his face seeing a powerful blue aura with sparks of pour electricity surfacing around his entire body. "Whoa! I'm awesome!"

Kisuke felt his legs trembling a bit; just being around Naruto was enough to make Kisuke feel suffocated, 'Such incredible spiritual pressure! He's already as strong as most captains' Bankais in his Shikai form! Remarkable, he could be the strongest shinigami ever!'

As Naruto laughed and marvelled at his new found power, he suddenly jolted forward and heard the sound of metal being dragged along the ground as he walked forward a bit. Naruto turned his head to look over his shoulder. "Ah!" – He gasped seeing a huge sword sheathed in a scabbard. The scabbard itself was longer than Naruto's body! So much, the scabbard on Naruto's back was tilted horizontally to the side so it won't get dragged along the pavement.

'And a huge ass sword to match' – Kisuke amusedly thought to himself.

"Whoa!" – Naruto unsheathed a long, silver colored sword out of the blue colored scabbard on his back. "Unreal, this sword is longer than me!" – Naruto observed the massive katana in his hand by holding it up in the air. It had several ridges of electricity swirling around its entire form! And on one side of the katana there were three medium blue colored "Kanjis" all meaning "lightning". And the hilt was firm and long, kind of shaped like a chocolate bar and had the same color as one too. "What's with the big Zanpakuto? Its bigger then my body! Not that I can't lift it thou. It's light to me! Hehe!"

"Well Naruto because you have such a high amount of spiritual pressure, it results in you having a huge Zanpakuto too" – Kisuke explained.

"Huh? You're saying because I'm really strong is why I have such a huge Zanpakuto?" – Naruto asked anf Kisuke nodded to confirm it. "Alright I'm awesome! I'm totally going to kick ass now! Where's Ryosuke?"

"He went off to fight a hollow not too ago. A very powerful one at that too, I honestly can't see how Ryosuke can beat him on his own" – Kisuke responded, straightforwardly.

"Then what I'm waiting for? A tea party? Hell no! I'm gone" – Naruto sheathed his blade back in its scabbard that was on his back.

"Wait Naruto" – Kisuke spoke, receiving a look of confusion from Naruto in the process. "Put this on" – Kisuke takes a white head-cloth out of his kimono.

"Huh?" – Confusion was written all over Naruto's face. Why would he need to wear some head-cloth on his forehead? "Why?"

Kisuke smirked: "Try lowering your spiritual pressure."

"O…..K" – Naruto didn't really understand why he'd need to lower his spiritual pressure, but tried to none the less. "Argh" – Naruto closed his eyes, momentarily trying to lower his spiritual pressure. After a few seconds he realized he couldn't. "I can't! Why can't I lower my power?"

"It's just as I thought" – Kisuke began. "You see Naruto the reason why you can't lower your spiritual pressure is because you simply have too much to lower! It's nearly impossible to control it at your current level."

"You're saying I can't control my own power?" – Naruto almost took that declaration as an insult.

"Well, yeah" – Kisuke says truthfully, pulling out his fan to cover the huge smile on his face. Naruto gave him an annoyed look. "Don't worry" – He quickly added before Naruto could respond. "Even the best shinigamis can't control their spiritual pressure. You are just a special case; I've never once felt the immense spiritual pressure radiating off of you from anyone before. And trust me; I've seen some powerful spiritual pressures."

"Well OK!" – Naruto smiled a broadly at the compliment. "Guess I'm too powerful for my own good, yep!" Naruto then tied the white head-cloth around his forehead. He was shocked to see that after tying the head-cloth to his forehead, the aura around his body and the ridges swirling round his blade faded away, turning the blue Kanjis on his sword black, "Whattttttt?"

"It's a seal Naruto" – Kisuke explained. "That head-cloth will help you contain your spiritual pressure, sealing away at least 60% or 70% of your power until you decide to remove the head-cloth off of your forehead."

"OK" – Naruto replied. But one thing still needed an answer. "Why do I need a head-cloth to seal my power away?"

Kisuke smiled sadistically, "Hehe. Because you'd kill everyone with your power alone" – Kisuke exclaimed.

"Ohhhhhhhh!" – Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well I best be off then. Got to go save Ryosuke now, keep my body safe for me, will ya old man?"

"Will do Naruto" – Kisuke responded.

Naruto glanced over his shoulder at the Zanpakuto resting on his back. "Let's do this… Yasuhiro!" – Naruto dashed straight out of the now ruined basement of Kisuke's, and ignoring the disbelieving eyes of Jinta, Ururu, and Tessai after he jumped out of the basement, Naruto dashed towards Ryosuke's location with a determined look on his face.

* * *

**Ichigo & Ryosuke vs. Bobomaru fight.**

The two had been struggling to hold off Bobomaru's relentless assault on them. Both had numerous cuts and bleeding wounds all over their entire bodies from this fight with the fearsome hollow!

Ryosuke pushed Ichigo to the side just as Bobomaru aimed to strike Ichigo in his chest with a fierce punch. "Ha!" – With a battle cry Ryosuke aimed his sword at Bobomaru's arm. Bobomaru simply fazed out, reappearing behind Ryosuke.

"Ryosuke!" – Ichigo called out as he hurled his sword at Bobomaru, hoping to catch the hollow's vital spot. Bobomaru grabbed Ichigo's Zanpakuto, while simultaneously sending Ryosuke falling heavily on the ground with a ferocious back-fist to his back. Bobomaru then hurled Ichigo's Zanpakuto back at him as if throwing a boomerang at a stunned animal and said animal was too shocked to move.

"Ichigo!" Rukia yelled, running over to Ichigo and just about managing to tackle him to the ground before his own Zanpakuto cut his head off! "What's wrong with you? Don't just stand there, fight already!"

"Damn it!" Ichigo cursed, sitting up slightly. "This guy is too strong! At my current power level, there's no way I can beat him!"

"This isn't the time for giving up Ichigo!" Rukia exclaimed, trying to urge Ichigo not to throw in the towel. "You said it yourself; he's faster than you and will most likely catch you. Now, quit your whining and get up and fight!"

That little remark spurred Ichigo back into life. "Urghhh!" Ichigo grunted as he picked up his Zanpakuto and charged at Bobomaru just as the hollow was making his way over to the fallen Ryosuke. "I am not going to lose to some stupid ass hollow!" Ichigo wildly swung his Zanpakuto in a very crazy fashion at Bobomaru. Bobomaru in returned swayed to the sides, easily dodging Ichigo wild attacks. "Damn!" Ichigo cursed.

Ichigo was forced to react on instinctive when Bobomaru parried his Zanpakuto and aimed to counter with a straight right punch. Due to all the karate classes Ichigo had taken in his life, he was just able to parry Bobomaru's fist to the side; taking full advantage of a wide open Bobomaru, Ichigo bought his Zanpakuto across Bobomaru's chest like Ryosuke had done earlier to the hollow, only Ichigo had slashed the opposite side of Bobomaru's chest, creating an x scar once the wound he made on Bobomaru's chest, connected with the wound Ryosuke made on Bobomaru's chest.

"Aaaaaaahh!" Bobomaru let out an entangled scream as blood spattered out of his newly open wound. "I can't believe I let two shinigamis hit me in one day!" Bobomaru fumed. "I'LL KILL YOU SHINIGAMI… I'LL KILL ALL SHINIGAMIS!"

Bobomaru, using sonido, fazes out, reappearing behind Ichigo before Ichigo could react. Rukia could only watch on in horror as Bobomaru clobbered Ichigo so hard in his back, Ichigo could almost feel his bones braking; the force of which Bobomaru packed into his punch, sent Ichigo bouncing off of the ground, before landing to a stop next to Ryosuke, who was also lying on the ground.

"Damn it!" Ichigo cursed.

"Argh!" Ryosuke angrily grunted, showing signs of frustration by balling up his hands into fists. "It can't end like this!"

Bobomaru rubbed his hands menacingly together: "Time to feast! I've wasted too much time on you two already!"

'Damn. I've got to do something' – Rukia thought. Rukia held out her hand. "**Hado: Number 33 soukatsui****!"** – Rukia chanted, trying desperately to fire her hado spell at Bobomaru, who was steadily advancing towards Ichigo and Ryosuke as if he had all the time in the world. Nothing happened! 'Damn! I still haven't regained enough spiritual pressure yet. But I have to do something!'

"Two shinigamis for the price of one" – Bobomaru spoke mockingly. "I'm going to enjoy this starter the most!"

"Well, it was nice knowing ya ginger. Even know it was only for about 15 minutes!" – Ryosuke exclaimed, believing he was staring death in the face.

"You too, kid!" – Ichigo growled in replied.

"Haha!" – Bobomaru let out a crazy laugh. If he'd a bib, he'd put it on; just to enjoy his meal all the more. "Time to devour!"

**Swish!** There was a swish sound and before anyone knew what was happening, a figure jumped high into the sky, covering the sun with his body.

"Who's that?" Rukia wondered, glancing up towards the sky and seeing the shadowy figure falling towards the ground. "I hope its help."

Ryosuke steadily lifted up half of his body and gazed up towards the sky. "No way" – He murmured too softly for anyone to hear.

**Crash!** The figure landed cat-style on the ground, the debris dust arose around his form.

Ichigo narrowed his eyes, "Who the hell?" Ichigo wondered.

Once the dust swayed to the sides, a blond haired shinigami was revealed standing tall with a huge sword sheathed to his back. His eyes were full of intensity!

"U-Uzumaki!" Ryosuke stammered, recognizing who had fallen between them instantly.

"Uzumaki Naruto! Yuzu's friend?" Ichigo wondered.

Naruto looked over his shoulder at Ichigo. "Ah" – A fox grin grew on his face recognizing Ichigo from the descriptions Yuzu had given him, the orange head of hair being the main description. "You must be strawberry, right?"

A vein popped out of Ichigo's cheek: "Damn it, don't call me that!" Ichigo will curse his dad for naming him after a fruit. Rukia felt a bead of sweat roll off of her face.

"Haha" – Naruto laughed at Ichigo before turning to Bobomaru, "What's up!?"

Bobomaru had been trembling with excitement ever since Naruto crash landed in front of him, "M-my, m-my, m-my…..Meal!" Bobomaru stammered. An evil smirk grew on Bobomaru's face. "I'm going to eat you now boy! And no one can stop me this time!"

"Huh?" Rukia wondered. "Do you know him?" She asked Naruto.

"Yeah" – Naruto answered truthfully. "I remember him. He attacked me and Karin-chan about two months ago."

"What!" – Ichigo yelled. "That bastard attacked my sister. I'll kill him!"

"Grrrrrrrrrr!" – Bobomaru roared. "Time to eat" – Bobomaru vanished via sonido.

Naruto heard the loud warnings from Ryosuke, Rukia and Ichigo. It didn't matter, within one slick ultra-fast reaction; Naruto unsheathed his Zanpakuto, receiving shocked looks from Rukia, Ichigo and Ryosuke in the process, and easily blocked Bobomaru's punch, after the hollow had reappeared.

"Someone awfully grumpy" – Naruto exclaimed with sarcasm dipping into his voice.

Bobomaru's eyes widened: "H-How'd you get so strong?"

Naruto casually flicked his fist directly into Bobomaru's face, sending the hollow soaring away as if it were nothing.

"Ahhhhhh!" Rukia, Ichigo, and Ryosuke all stared wide-eyed at Naruto with their jaws hitting the floor. "Since when'd Uzumaki become so fucking powerful?" Ryosuke growled.

Naruto rubbed his nostrils with his index finger: "Hehe" – Naruto chuckled a little. "That was a good fight."

"Grrrrr! It's not over yet, you brat!" Bobomaru commented. "Not until I eat you!"

Naruto smiled: "Alright, I've been dying to try out this thing I've got" – Naruto held his Zanpakuto in front of himself. Naruto shut his eyes. 'Ok, Yasuhiro-jiji. So ten seconds is all I've got' - Naruto reopened his eyes. "**Raijin mode****!"** – Naruto called out as he brushed his Zanpakuto, allowing the kanjis on it to shine a glowing bright blue color. Sparks of electricity surrounded Naruto's body once more.

Rukia's eyes shot wide open in surprise. 'He has got a lightning Zanpakuto!' – Rukia thought, the shock evident in her thoughts. Realization suddenly hit Rukia hard. 'That's the same spiritual pressure I'd sensed earlier! Incredible! He's as strong as Captain-Zaraki!'

"N-No way" – Ryosuke stammered, gawking at Naruto's power.

"Who the hell is he?" – Ichigo asked.

Bobomaru was drooling at the delicious energy of Naruto, "Oooooo that power! It's magnificent" – Bobomaru exclaimed. "I must eat you now and gain that power!"

No one even had a chance to blink, before Naruto disappeared, as if he wasn't even there to begin with. Several vicious, sword slashes later, Naruto reappeared behind Bobomaru, his eyes overshadowed by the bangs of his hair, fists clenched at his sides, and Zanpakuto still sheathed in its scabbard. And the sparks that were around his body, faded away, as if they wasn't even there to begin with.

"Your flash-step is pretty impressive… Shinigami" – Bobomaru complimented, as if Naruto hadn't done anything, but sped behind him.

Naruto's serious expression then turned into an innocent look of confusion. "What's flash-step?"

"W-Wh-"That was all Bobomaru could let out before his mask was effectively cut to pieces, like slicing onions to tiny little pieces. "How'd you he beat me?!" Bobomaru let out one final scream before disappearing in many tiny, white spirit particles.

Rukia, Ryosuke and Ichigo all stared wide-eyed at Naruto. Neither of them had the slightly clue to how Bobomaru was suddenly cut to pieces. To the naked eye, it seemed Naruto just fazed out and reappeared behind Bobomaru, and nothing else. But in reality, Naruto dashed towards Bobomaru at blinding speed, unsheathed his Zanpakuto, and performed multiple sword manoeuvres before sprinting passed the hollow and calmly sheathing his Zanpakuto; as if he hadn't even done anything.

'Since when'd Uzumaki become so freaking powerful?' – Ryosuke repeated his same line, only this time it was in his head; as he clenched his fist so tight he broke his skin. 'It's not fair! I was the one that was meant to be the strongest! Not him!'

"You guys okay there?" Naruto asked Rukia, Ichigo and Ryosuke, the latter not paying attention.

"Yes, thank you" – Rukia thanks Naruto with a humble bow of respect. "Who are you?" She'd to ask, thinking the boy may be a shinigami from the Soul Society.

Naruto grinned widely, "Uzumaki Naruto at your service!" Naruto responded in his usual cheery way.

"Just Uzumaki" Rukia inquired further, Naruto slowly nodded. 'Hmm, interesting! If he's not from the Soul Society, then how can he be so powerful?'

"Hey Naruto!" Ichigo scowled out at Naruto, "Just how freaking fast were you when you killed that hollow."

"Speed of lightning!" Naruto answered like it was no big deal.

Rukia, Ichigo and Ryosuke's eyes all widened in surprise, just how could Naruto be that fast? It was surely impossible for anyone to be able to match lightning speed! wasn't it?

"I can only move at lightning speed for ten seconds thou" – Naruto honestly stated. "It's more than enough thou."

Rukia stared at Naruto dully. 'Incredible! Not only is he as strong as Captain-Zaraki, but he is also as fast as lightning itself. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he could be the strongest shinigami to ever live!'

Ryosuke suddenly noticed the white head-cloth tied around Naruto's forehead. "Uzumaki, why do you have a head-cloth on your forehead?"

"Huh" – Naruto gazed his eyes above for a second. "Just thought I'd try and look cool for my Yuzu-chan," Naruto decided not to tell Ryosuke about his secret stash of spiritual pressure hidden underneath his head-cloth. At least not… Yet!

"What!" – Ichigo yelled. "My sister's not yours!"

Naruto smirked: "Sorry strawberry, but Yuzu-chan and Karin-chan are my girls!"

"Goldie locks!" – Ichigo shot back. "You are not getting my sisters, I won't let you" – Ichigo swung a punch at Naruto, who in return, was easily able to side-step Ichigo's attack and trip him up by leaving his leg out. "Damn it!" Ichigo cursed after falling face first on the ground.

"Well I'm off" – Naruto bided them a farewell, before sprinting back to the Urahara Shoten.

"Wait up Uzumaki. I'm coming too" – Ryosuke shouted, chasing after Naruto, leaving Ichigo and Rukia, alone.

"Well, that was certainly fascinating, wasn't it? Wouldn't you agree, Ichigo?" – Rukia asked smugly.

"Shut up!" Ichigo growled in replied. And with that wrapped up, Rukia and Ichigo left the park too, returning to their usual business.

* * *

**At Karakura Middle School - With Karin's and Yuzu**

The bell finally sounded, signalling the end of the day.

"Okay, school's over. Now get out of here" – Mr S coldly told the kids that were walking out of the classroom.

"Hmm" – Yuzu worriedly hummed to herself.

"Yuzu-chan…" Karin tapped her sister on her shoulder. "…Naruto will be fine sis. Don't worry, it's not like anyone can beat him."

"I know" – Yuzu spoke in a low voice. Yuzu and Karin walked out of the classroom. "I just wish I knew where he was thou."

"I understand" – Karin commented, flinging her backpack over her shoulder. "Listen, I have to go to soccer practise now, make sure to save me some dinner, cool?"

"Ok Karin-chan" – Yuzu responded back to her sister. Karin hugged her twin sister Yuzu before jogging off to soccer practice "Ah" – Yuzu sighed sadly. "I'm sure Uzumaki-kun is okay. Like Karin-chan said, nobody can beat Uzumaki-kun."

Yuzu walked out of school, and began making her way home. Yuzu gazed up towards the sky, she sighed, imagining Naruto's face in the clouds.

"Where are you?" Yuzu solemnly asked herself. Yuzu stopped at Naruto's favorite place, Wataru's ramen shop. A part of Yuzu expected to see Naruto here, Yuzu knew Naruto absolutely adored Wataru's ramen, and as such would always stop by here; he'd even dragged her here to join him in eating "god's gift", by his words. But the old man who owned the shop said he hasn't saw Naruto since the last time he stop by, and that was four days ago!

This only caused Yuzu's anxiety to rise. How could Naruto not be at his favorite place? He usually ate here, at Wataru's ramen place, everyday! So, how could he not be here? Had he been kidnapped? No! That wasn't preposterous! Naruto doesn't get kidnapped!

"Ramen!" The sound of a very similar voice bought Yuzu out of her thoughts. Yuzu's eyes lit up with hope, as she eagerly stood outside of Wataru's ramen shop, waiting for the loud voice to reveal itself. "I'm going to order barbecue pork ramen, and make sure to order three more after that," that voice, Yuzu recognized and adored all too well, it could only belong to one, just one…

"Naruto!" Yuzu screamed, happiness suddenly flooding her voice, seeing her crush strolling towards the building of his favorite place, Wataru's ramen shop!

"Huh" – Naruto wondered. Naruto glanced ahead of himself. "Yuzu-chan!" A huge smile grew on Naruto's face, seeing his good friend Kurosaki Yuzu standing next to his favorite place, Wataru's ramen shop. "How are you Yuzu-chan?" Naruto asked as he ran over to Yuzu with his arms thrown out to the side, expecting to engulf Yuzu in a big hug.

Now, considering the fact Yuzu's crazy about Naruto, and Naruto loves girls, he'd assume she'd welcome him in open arms. But instead of the warmth of a hug Naruto expected to feel, he received a hard hand straight into his face.

"Ow. Yuzu…" Naruto stared at Yuzu with disbelieving eyes. She never slapped him before, that was what Karin-chan does, never Yuzu.

"I'm sorry Naruto, but I was just so worried about you." Yuzu stated. Naruto blinked twice at Yuzu. "Nii-chan said I invited you to our house on Friday, but I don't remember seeing you at our house. Then your grandma said you never returned home from school."

"Huh?" – Naruto wondered. 'Ah' – Naruto mentally sighed when realization suddenly hit him.

* * *

**Flashback**

_Naruto and Ryosuke made it back to the Urahara shoten, after Naruto had effortlessly defeated hollow Bobomaru, as if he were nothing but a fly._

_"Ah!" Naruto smiled broadly once he jumped back into his physical body, still sporting his school uniform he'd on since Friday. "It feels good to be back in my body!"_

_"Whatever" – Ryosuke commented, still feeling sore that he couldn't do anything against Bobomaru while Naruto defeated him in less than a second. Ryosuke jumped back in his body. "I'm off."_

_"Later Ryosuke" – Naruto waved goodbye to his friend Ryosuke as the taller boy walked out of the Shoten, without considering how to become a shinigami again, or even patching up his wounds he received from Bobomaru's assault on his ass!_

_"I guess I best be going then. Oh yeah, how will I be able to become a shinigami again? Shadow eyes?" – Naruto asked Kisuke._

_"Well that's easy, I just have to strike you in your forehead with the bottom part of my cane" – Kisuke explained. "But, seeing as I can't always be around you and god forbids you may need to transform into a shinigami and I'm not around to knock your soul out of your body, you could be in some serious trouble. So, I'm going to give you a soul badge."_

_"Soul badge?" Naruto repeated._

_"Yes, by pressing the soul badge into your chest, you'll be able to release your soul from your body" – Kisuke stated._

_"That's awesome! So where is it?" Naruto asked._

_"Hehe" – Kisuke covered the lower half of his face with his fan. "Well, I'm all out at the moment," Naruto just rolled his eyes when Kisuke spoke this. "I'll have some more in by tomorrow. Come by the shop then and pick one up."_

_"Ok!" – Naruto pivoted on his heels. "Guess I'll be off then!"_

_"Oh, and be aware of your "girlfriends". They may not remember anything" – Kisuke commented, smiling._

_"What" – Confusion was written all over Naruto's face. "What do you mean Yuzu-chan and Karin-chan may not remember anything? Did you do something to them?"_

_Naruto's only answer was a sadistic smile and grimace from Kisuke. Naruto slowly nodded at him, not liking this one bit._

* * *

**End of flashback.**

Naruto silently cursed. He'd have to make a mental note to kick the shit out of Kisuke later for erasing his precious Yuzu-chan's memory!

"Uhm… Naruto-kun" – Yuzu nervously began, noticing Naruto drifting off into his own world for a minute. "Is everything okay?"

Naruto smiled assuredly at Yuzu. "Yeah, and don't worry Yuzu-chan, I was only training, you know, to better my fighting skills further."

"You promise?" – Yuzu asked, looking at Naruto with her puppy dog eyes.

"Of course" – Naruto responded, grinning.

"Naruto…." Yuzu commented, dreamily. Yuzu ran at Naruto, and gently placed both her hands on his chest, resting her head firmly on Naruto's well tone pecks.

"Yuzu…" Naruto murmured. Naruto smiled softly at Yuzu before wrapping both of his arms around her head, promising to himself he'd do everything within his power to keep Yuzu safe!

Yuzu and Naruto stayed there for a while, just enjoying each other's company, holding each other close, and promising themselves they would stay in this position for as long as possible.

Unaware to both Naruto and Yuzu, they were being watched from afar, by someone, wearing an all-white cloak and having a hood over his face to conceal his identity. "Good boy Naruto. I know I'll be able to rely on you in the future. Keep training hard, because I'll be sending you more tests… Naruto!"

* * *

**All done! Please review, it helps to keep me motivated **


	6. A Signature Attack of Pour Destruction!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Bleach. Chapter edited.**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

******A Signature Attack of Pour Destruction!**

Naruto had returned home after three days away, and as expected he got quite the ear bashing from his grandma. Tomoyo was little angry at Naruto for being away from home for the amount of time that he was gone, and without even telling his dear old grandma where he was. After a serene apologise from Naruto, Tomoyo hugged her grandson and all was forgiven.

"I'm going to kill Isshin tomorrow," Naruto commented to himself as he threw himself onto his bed. Naruto had a long day; he spent some-time with Yuzu, eating ramen at his favorite place, Wataru's ramen shop. Then he walked Yuzu home. Afterwards, he strolled over to the Arcade and ended up beating all Ryosuke's high scores on the video games that he and Ryosuke play.

Now he's returned home after a three day absence. "I told that crazy-teme to tell grandma where I was," Naruto ranted.

"Ah." Naruto soon sighed. "All that power I had!" Naruto held his hand in front of his face. "I never realized I'd all that stored up inside of me!" Naruto folded his arms behind his head. "Man, I can't wait until Shadow-Eyes gives me a soul badge tomorrow," He shut his eyes, just thinking about all the people he could save once he becomes a shinigami again. "I'll be like the blond superhero, or something on the lines haha." Naruto added a little chuckle at the end.

"That would be awesome." Naruto exclaimed softly. "Well, there's no sense in losing sleep over it. I'm going to need to be at 100% if I want to start saving souls tomorrow." With that said Naruto changed into his pyjamas and jumped underneath the sheets that were placed over his bed. "Tomorrow's going to be so awesome!" Were Naruto's last words before he shut his eyes, allowing himself to drift off to a peaceful slumber.

XxX

(With Ryosuke)

XxX

The silver eyed boy had only just walked through the door of his mother's house nonchalantly, "I'm home." Ryosuke declared in a low voice.

"Ryosuke-kun!" Came the sharp voice of a woman. A lady in her early thirties came running up to Ryosuke. "Where were you young man? I was so worried about you!" She tried scolding him.

The lady was fairly tall, standing at least 9ft tall. She had a slim curvy body that'd embarrass most kids that didn't have the attitude Ryosuke had. She had long green hair that fell to her lower back. She had a red headband over her hair to match her ruby red coloured eyes. She was wearing a light blue coloured V-neck t shirt, light green coloured tight trousers that exposed her curvy hips, and brown sandals completed her appearance.

"Shut up Michiko-kaa." (kaa=mom) Ryosuke rudely responded to the woman now known as Michiko his mom. "You're not my dad! So don't tell me what to do!"

"I'm your mother!" Michiko snapped angrily at her son's rude attitude towards her.

"Ptff, whatever." Ryosuke blew off his own mom. "I'm going to my room," The silver eyed boy budged past the ruby eyed woman and marched off upstairs.

"What about dinner Ryosuke-kun?" Michiko commented.

A vein popped out of Ryosuke's cheek. "I'll eat it tomorrow!" He yelled at her from the top of the stairs. "I don't need this shit!" He swore before storming into his bedroom and slamming the door behind him. **SLAM!**

Michiko sighed: "That boy… he probably lost another fight with Naruto-san." Michiko assumed. "He's just like his father… he can't handle losing."

XxX

(Ryosuke's room)

XxX

"Argh," Ryosuke angrily groaned as he pounded the wall in frustration. "Uzumaki!" He sneered, showing how irritated he was by gritting his teeth together, "Why can't I surpass him?!" Ryosuke all but yelled out, banging the desk that was near his bed, knocking a photo frame as he did this. "Eh." Ryosuke wondered as he picked up the photo frame. "…Urgh." Ryosuke narrowed his eyes upon seeing the picture in the frame. "Uzumaki".

It was a picture of him and Naruto when they were only just ten years old. Ten year old Naruto had his arm around Ryosuke's neck with a big grin plastered on his face. Ten year old Ryosuke was scowling at Naruto in the picture of the two.

"It's because of you is why I'm living this nightmare of inferiority!" Ryosuke exclaimed, letting his mind wonder back to the first day he'd met Naruto.

XxX

(_Flashback –__Two Years Ago__- __Park_)

XxX

_A little boy, who had brown shaggy hair and silver coloured eyes, was doing what he normally did best, and that was fighting!_

_The boy was wearing a blue blazer jacket with marching trousers and sandals on._

_"Aaaaahh!" The brown haired boy screamed as he punched another boy down to the ground. "Come on then! I'll take you both on!"_

_"You don't know who you're messing with!" Another boy exclaimed. "Ryosuke!"_

_The boy now known as Ryosuke started trouble with two of the toughest kids around the block, and now they want to make him pay for it._

_"Come on then! I am not scared of you punks!" Ryosuke shot back._

_The boy Ryosuke had knocked to the ground jumped up to his feet and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, "Let's beat up on this kid already, Shoji-san."_

_"… I agree Shuuichi-san." Shoji replied back to Shuuichi._

_"Bring it on!" Ryosuke shouted._

_Shoji and Shuuichi both lunged in on Ryosuke. Ryosuke punched Shoji in the face, and then elbowed Shuuichi in the nose. He desperately tried to fight them off, wanting to prove to them that he was the kid around these parts of Karakura town._

_But unfortunately for Ryosuke, it was still two against one, and as such, the numbers eventually played a part in the tide turning in the favour of the two boys. They soon overpowered Ryosuke, and began whaling on him with an unmerciful amount of stomps and punches all over his face._

_"Stupid kid, this'll teach ya not to mess with us." Shuuichi commented, smirking._

_Ryosuke was down. He held his bruised ribs and coughed out blood from his mouth. His face was covered with black and purple lumps all over his face, "Bastards!"_

_"I say-…" Shoji began but quickly trailed off when he heard a loud shout of another boy._

_"Aaaaaaah!" And before Shoji knew what was happening, he was violently punched down to the ground by a blond haired boy wearing a white t shirt; black shorts that reached his knees and black sandals on his feet. "Two against one isn't fair!"_

_"Ah!" Shuuichi gasped, "Shoji!"_

_"You punk ass kid!" Shoji growled out. "You better stay out of this if you know what's good for you!"_

_"Oh yeah?" The blond haired boy challenged with a smirk on his face. "Bring it on then you cowards!"_

_"Stay out of this kid!" Ryosuke scowled out, his words sounding strained from the beating he received at the hands of the two boys. "This has nothing to do with you!"_

_"Shut up!" Naruto smirked beastly, "You've already gotten your ass kicked by them. Let me show you how a pro does it."_

_"What!?" Ryosuke growled out._

_"Ya cocky little shrimp!" Shoji commented, throwing a punch at Naruto who parried the blow to the side before doubling the boy over by sticking his fist into his stomach, causing blood to vomit out of Shoji's mouth. _

_"You bastard kid!" Shuuichi cursed at Naruto, spinning on his heel to throw a sloppy kick at Naruto's midriff, which the blond caught easily, making Shuuichi gasp, "You're better than I-." He didn't get the chance to finish as Naruto reeled him in and smashed him devastatingly to his chin with a furious uppercut. _

_That brought Shuuichi down to the ground with a bang!_

_Ryosuke was stunned and speechless! This kid just defeated two other boys like they were nothing! Ryosuke's eyes could only widen, realizing this kid was on a whole other level to any other kid he'd seen previously._

_"Had enough?" Naruto asked, a smirk forming on his lips. "There's always round-two if you want?"_

_"Cocky bastard." Shoji painfully sneered out as he trembled to his feet. "You're going to pay for this."_

_"Yeah," Shuuichi responded with a waterfall of tears falling from his eyes, "No one ever messing with us."_

_"What?" Naruto wondered. "You say you want me to give you each another knuckle sandwich to your jaws."_

_Shuuichi and Shoji cringed: "No!"_

_"THEN GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" Naruto shouted tremendously, making both Shoji and Shuuichi flinch from the tone of voice he used._

_Shoji and Shuuichi both turned on their tails and sprinted off as fast as they could._

_"AND DON'T BE BOTHERING ANYONE EVER AGAIN! OR I, UZUMAKI NARUTO, WILL LAY THE SMACK-DOWN ON YOU!"_

_Ryosuke's jaw was slightly dropping off. "No way," He murmured too softly for Naruto to hear. "That kid beat them." He balled up his hands into fists._

_Naruto turned to Ryosuke. "You okay there?" He offered him a helping hand up. Naruto was left stunned when Ryosuke slapped his hand away. "…Okay."_

_"How dare you!" Ryosuke snarled, "You dare walk all over my pride like that!"_

_Naruto was left confused. All he did was help the boy when he needed the help the most. What's wrong with that? "Geez! All I did was help you. There's no need to get all butt-hurt just because you couldn't defend yourself!"_

_"You bastard… I'll kill you." Ryosuke stated loudly, lunging in on Naruto with a straight right punch that Naruto blocked with an open palm and countered swiftly with a left hook that sent Ryosuke crashing back towards the ground. "How dare you treat me like that? Do you not know who I am? I am Kagoshima Ryosuke: future king of Karakura town! You better start showing me some respect boy!"_

_"Haha!" Naruto laughed, "If you're the King of Karakura town? Then I must be the King of Japan?!" Naruto chuckled._

_Ryosuke's face turned red with anger, "Stop laughing at me!" Ryosuke flipped off of the ground and launched a fierce assault at Naruto. _

_Naruto was easily able to parry Ryosuke's attacks before effectively striking him down for the fourth time that day, "Curse you Uzumaki!"_

_"I'm off," Naruto commented offhandedly, "I don't have time for bastards like you! I need to get home before it gets too late. Otherwise Grandma will beat me. Not nice!" Naruto then sprinted home speedily, leaving Ryosuke to wallow in death. _

_By his words…_

_"Damn him!" Ryosuke muttered irritably, "I will beat you someday… Uzumaki! I will…"_

_And that was the start of the bitter rivalry between Naruto and Ryosuke._

_XxX_

_(End of flashback)_

_XxX_

Of course Ryosuke was still yet to defeat his long-time rival in hand to hand combat. This fact frustrated him, knowing he'd been training hard to reach the blond's level, only for the blond to continue to increase his strength to stay ahead of him. Why can't he surpass Naruto? Why couldn't he lay the blond shinigami down for the count for once? Whyyyyyyyyyy?

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!" Ryosuke angrily groused. He hadn't felt this mad since that man…. Ryosuke's line of thought trailed off, and just at the mention of the man, his thoughts took a 360 twist. "I will kill you. Wherever you are… I will kill you!" Ryosuke declared determinedly.

Ryosuke rested his head against his pillow and forcefully shut his eyes, letting himself fall off to a nightmare that he believed surely awaited him.

XxX

Ryosuke was so busy ranting on how he failed to knock out those kids the day he met Naruto, and how he was going to defeat Naruto, that he failed to notice the presence of his mum who was standing outside of his door listening to his angry rant with a worried expression written all over her face.

"…Oh Ryosuke-kun." Michiko murmured softly, "Don't live your life for revenge. Please don't go down that path." She quietly begged.

Michiko had been trying to do everything within her power to get Ryosuke to give up on revenge. She made friends with Naruto's grandmother, Tomoyo, in a bid to make the two grow closer as friends. She forced him to take that picture with Naruto. She even resorted to hooking up her son with a next door neighbour's daughter. This worked, but quickly back fired once the girl asked about the man Ryosuke wanted to man-slaughter, which of course revoked a furious reaction from Ryosuke. He snapped and ended up scaring the hell out of her by repeatedly slamming his fist off of a wall!

'Don't blame him son.' Michiko solemnly thought, as if she was speaking with Ryosuke through her mind to his, 'It was the only way to restore the balance.' Tears suddenly formed in Michiko's eyes, "I miss you-." Was all she could let out before the pain of losing her love one became too much for the single mom to bare and she collapsed onto the ground, unconscious!

XxX

(Elsewhere)

XxX

All seemed to be peaceful within Karakura town that night… despite Ryosuke's burden. Naruto was sleeping soundly within his bed. His two beloved friends Karin-chan and Yuzu-chan were also sleeping soundly at the Kurosaki's house.

All in all the sky was peaceful, the stars were shining brightly, and the moon was full. What could possibly disturb such a wonderful night? The answer was on a tall lamp post.

There lied a man with jet-black hair that fell to his shoulders. He was wearing a full black suit with a white shirt as if he'd just come back from work.

The man had a depressed expression written all over his face. "Imouto." He sadly murmured as he stared into the window of the apartment.

Within said apartment, lied a girl with orange burnt hair that fell to her back, hazel colored eyes and very big boobs. The girl had on her pyjamas and was sitting down on her knees in front of a picture of the man whom was watching her from just outside of her apartment.

"…Nii-chan…" The girl softly began as she placed her palms together and slowly shut her eyes, "I'm sorry I haven't been praying to you lately," The girl solemnly apologized to the man in the picture frame now known as her nii-chan (big brother). "It's just I've been having so much fun lately at school. Oh! Tatsuki and I won the school project and I think Ichi…I mean Kurosaki-kun maybe finally starting to notice me!"

"Orihime-imouto," The man whimpered to the girl now known as Orihime his little sister. "I'll always be here to watch over you sis."

Why was it when someone always says a heart-warming line to another human being, something bad always seems to go horribly wrong? And this time was no different!

The man, who had a chain sticking out of his chest, didn't even get the chance to react before seven shadowy being of some sort zoned in on him, engulfing his entire spiritual body completely….. The last words the man let out before he was taken away to who knew where were… "Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh Orihimeeeeeeeee!"

XxX

Orihime shivered for a split second before she jolted up and ran over to the window, "Who's there?" She asked loudly upon opening the window. After a few moments of silence, Orihime returned to her usual bubbly way. "Silly me, it was probably just my imagination!" Orihime softly bonked herself on the head.

"I know," Orihime said bubbly. "I'll have something to eat before going to bed. I can't sleep on an empty stomach now."

Orihime happily skipped off to her fridge and pulled out a bowl of what looked like green soup with bananas in it! Orihime licked her lips before devouring the strange food that she'd prepared for herself, and actually managed to get to sleep afterwards without having a stomach ache, oddly enough!

But then again, this was a strange girl.

XxX

(Elsewhere)

XxX

The setting was beautiful. A bright blue sky, with the sun shining brightly down on the earth just made this setting a whole lot more beautiful than it already was.

There was a huge church and by said church awaited a long, white coloured limousine.

"It's such a wonderful day," The man in the driver seat of the Limousine commented to himself, crying tears of joy for this special day.

Everyone seated in the church were rather wearing pink kimono dresses, if they were ladies, or blue kimono suits, if they were men.

"I gave away my Karin-chan and Yuzu-chan to one guy," Isshin wailed happily, "I love that guy….. Take care of my baby girls!"

Tomoyo had happy tears pouring down her old wrinkly features, "Oooooh my little Naruto-chan's not so little anymore!" Tomoyo happily cried.

The minister eyed not two, but three people! Two women, both were twins and both were called Kurosaki. These women looked stunning! Even the minister was getting the tiniest nose bleed, though; he tried to suppress it with the blond man standing in between the two women, glaring at him, as if he was warning him, "Don't even think about it…"

He'd just have to fight down that raging hard-on threatening to come out of his pants lest he wanted to get a furious beat-down at the hands of one Uzumaki Naruto!

The minister gulped and turned his gaze away from the two beautiful women each wearing long amazing white dresses. "Do you Naruto-," The minster began, upon taking a quick breath. "-Take these fabulous young women to be your lawfully brides?" The minster quickly whispered something under his breath, "lucky bastard…"

Naruto, wearing a light baby blue suit, white shirt, mini top hat with black shoes on his feet, glanced at both his women before replying husky, "I do. Oh hell yeah I do!"

Isshin let out a chuckle as Naruto declared this. Tomoyo slapped him for his lack of manners, getting him to wail slightly.

The minster gestured towards both women who smiled dreamily at their man before looking back at the minster with big Naruto-like grins plastered on their faces. "And do you two, Kurosaki Karin and Kurosaki Yuzu, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?" The minster questioned. "And promise not to kill each other for him." The minster again spoke under his breath.

Yuzu and Karin glanced happily at each other before gazing dreamily at the blond that was going to be their shared husband, not that it mattered to them. "WE DO!" They both declared with a simultaneous shout.

The minster smiled kindly, "Then I now pronounce you all Mrs, Mr and Mrs Uzumaki! You may now kiss the brides… Mr Uzumaki!"

Lucky for Naruto, he was prepared for this. Another head spouted from his neck spontaneously, this surprisingly never freaked anyone barring the minster out.

Naruto then drew his women into deep passionate kisses, which sent electricity up Yuzu's and Karin's spines as all the people watching this magical moment simultaneously cheered the newlyweds on, even Ryosuke, who was Naruto's best man, allowed a small smile to crept onto his face.

One person did not cheer! One person wasn't even present in the church! In fact he was outside banging on the windows, and yelling angry words that sound like, "I won't let you take my sisters away!" Ichigo was ferociously banging on the windows, desperately trying to stop this wedding from happening. He tried to earlier, but ended up getting his ass handed to him by Naruto.

That setback wasn't going to stop Ichigo from finding some way of stopping this marriage from happening. "Get away from my sisters!"

Suddenly Naruto stopped kissing Karin and Yuzu, and turned his heads to the direction of where Ichigo was banging on the window. A malevolent smirk crossed Naruto's lips, "I got your sisters _S__trawberry_. And I'm going to do all sort of things to them later!" Naruto's eyes suddenly began to glow a sinister crimson red colour.

"Noooooooooooooooooooooo!" Ichigo yelled in defiance. Ichigo's soul form suddenly erupted out of his body… "I won't let you!"

"Mwmwhahahahaha!" Naruto laughed evilly, no one other than Ichigo noticed that menacing laugh. "You lose Strawberry!" The world around Naruto, Karin and Yuzu suddenly began to turn purple.

Ichigo gripped the hilt of his Zanpakuto, "I won't allow this! Getsuga…"

XxX

That the mention of a move he'd never even done before, Ichigo jolted up with many beads of sweat pouring down his face.

The scene with Naruto getting married to both Yuzu and Karin suddenly turned to Ichigo's bedroom!

Was all that just a dream? "No." – Ichigo said meekly, "…It was a nightmare."

Suddenly the door of his wardrobe inexplicably slid itself open. Ichigo jumped up as it did this. "Do you mind keeping it down?" Came Rukia's voice from inside the wardrobe. "You've been making noises all night!"

Ichigo narrowed his eyes, "What the hell are you doing in my house? More importantly, what the hell are you doing sleeping in my wardrobe?"

"Sleeping… what does it look like I'm doing?" Rukia questioned rhetorically, "What was all that noise you were making in your sleep? Had a bad dream?" She teased in a sly voice.

"What dream?" Ichigo wondered dumbly until the realization suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks. "That dream!"

"Huh?" Rukia felt the sweat drop off of the side of her cheek when Ichigo stood up belligerently, "You mean the dream where you kept on repeatedly yelling, 'nooooo! I won't let you!' Eh?"

Rukia never got an answer, as Ichigo had already sprinted out of his room. "What an idiot..." Rukia then jumped out of the wardrobe already dressed in her school uniform, "I guess I'll be going then." With that said, Rukia jumped out of the window leading to Ichigo's room.

Rukia landed gracefully on the ground. Rukia then began making her way towards Ichigo's school.

"Karin!" Ichigo said loudly, the urgently evident in his voice as he sprinted out of his room to his sister already dressed in her school uniform. "Please tell me you aren't attracted to Naruto in any way, please!"

"What?" Karin sounded a little shocked. "Ichi-nii what's wrong with you?"

"Do you have a crush on Naruto or not!?" Ichigo scowled at her.

"No." – She stated with a deadpan look on her face. Ichigo took a sigh of relief as she spoke that. "But-," Ichigo froze up as Karin continued. "He is kind of sweet." Karin's cheeks lightened up with a pink gross cross it. "Who knows," Karin shrugged. "I may have a crush on Naruto."

Ichigo paled: "No," Ichigo grinded his temples, "I've got to kill Naruto! It's the only way to protect you from him."

Karin's pink face then returned to its usual bored one. "…Ichi-nii." She said with a sigh afterwards.

Ichigo marched out of the house aggressively, taking an address book with him, determined to find and kill Naruto so his dream…No, nightmare would never get the chance to become a reality.

Yuzu came happily skipping out of her room she shared with her twin sister Karin, "Hi Karin-chan, where's onii-chan gone?"

"He's gone to "kill" Naruto," Karin sarcastically responded.

"What!" Yuzu let out a small gasp, "Why would onii-chan want to hurt Naruto-kun for?"

Karin shrugged uncaringly, "I don't know, he probably just wants to get his ass handed to him."

"You think Naruto-kun's really that much stronger then onii-chan." Yuzu said disbelieving voice. She never expected Naruto to be that strong!

"Yep," Karin grinned. "If Naruto can beat a teacher, who'd trained in kung Fu for years, almost effortlessly, I'm pretty sure he could beat Ichi-nii."

"Wow!" Yuzu spoke with awe in her voice. "I feel sorry for onii-chan. He doesn't know what he's getting himself into."

"I'm not." Karin stated simply, "What doesn't kill him will only make him stronger."

"Hmm." Yuzu hummed in agreement with her twin sister.

XxX

(20 minutes later – Ichigo returns)

XxX

As predicted by Karin, Ichigo walked back into their home covered in his own blood with a huge over grown strawberry-style lump on top of his head. "Hrughh… damn it." Ichigo groaned from the ass kicking he received at the hands of Naruto.

Isshin's eyes have a glint in them. "Ichigoooooo-!" Isshin was about to attack Ichigo, but stopped himself once his eyes took in Ichigo's already battered and bruised condition. "What happened to you Ichigo?"

"Don't ask!" Ichigo scowled in response as he limbed past his dad painstakingly, and up the stairs to his bedroom.

"Hey Ichi-nii, I take it you've 'killed Naruto', by the looks of it." Karin sarcastically remarked with a smug look on her face.

"Just shut up," Ichigo responded, trying to sound nonchalant against the pain he was feeling.

Karin laughed at him. Afterwards she then prepared to leave with Yuzu to stop by Tomoyo's house so they can make sure Naruto gets to school.

XxX

(Tomoyo's house – With Naruto)

XxX

"…Stupid Strawberry-teme." Naruto muttered as he wiped Ichigo's blood off of his grandma's carpet so she wouldn't see this and go "old school" on both their asses. "What was his problem anyway?"

(_Flashback – 20 minutes ago_)

_"Aaaaaahhh!" Naruto outstretched his arms as he sat up on his bed languidly, "Aw man did I sleep so well!" Naruto then noticed a note taped between his eyes, "What the heck?!" Naruto wondered as he ripped the note from his skin, causing himself to yelp in pain. "Let's see…"_

_Naruto began reading the note._

_Dear Naruto-chan._

_I've been called into work early today. So I won't be able to see you off to school. Make sure to go to school young man, I've already ironed your school uniform for you and made you your favorite breakfast… Ramen!_

_Naruto drooled all over the note once he read that part._

_I know you're probably drooling all over the note now, right Naruto-chan?_

_Naruto looked sheepish once he read that part._

_Make sure to say hi to both Yuzu-chan and Karin-chan for me and take good care of them. They both care for you deeply, you should know._

_Naruto's cheeks reddened up at that part. "I know grandma Tomoyo!" Naruto folded his arms behind his head. "My Karin-chan and Yuzu-chan sure do love me a lot."_

_Naruto had a quick shower, got changed into his school uniform, and was now heating up the breakfast his caring grandmother prepared for him… ramen._

_"I love ra-." Naruto trailed off once he heard a thunderous knocking sound coming from the direction of the front door. "I wonder who that could be."_

_"OPEN THIS DAMN DOOR NARUTO!" Came Ichigo's loud voice._

_"Strawberry's here!" Naruto commented happily, strolling over to the door. _

_"OPEN UP!" Ichigo shouted commandingly._

_"Alright, already," Naruto replied snappily, opening up the door only to be tackled to the ground by a furious Ichigo! "Get off me!" Naruto yelled demandingly, tussling and turning under Ichigo while said orange haired shinigami grabbed him by the throat and locked eyes with him dangerously. _

_"Stay away from my sisters!" Ichigo felt overprotective "big brother mode" kicking on as freed one of his hands from Naruto's throat to punch the blond in his face. _

_"I'm going to give you five seconds to let go and get off of me." Naruto warned in a frighteningly calm tone of voice, the malevolence slightly dipping into his voice. _

_"Not until you stay the hell away from my sisters!" Ichigo scowled._

_"Okay."_

_XxX_

_(10 minutes and one brutal ass kicking later)_

_XxX_

_"And stay out!" Naruto shouted as he grabbed the scruff of a battered and bloodied Ichigo's neck and forcefully threw him out of the house. "Try that again and you'll get a worse ass whooping! And Karin-chan and Yuzu-chan are my girls so deal with it!"_

_"Hrughh!" Ichigo painfully groaned as he held his bruised ribs and slowly begun making his way back home. 'How he is so fucking strong!?'_

_"Damn teme!" Naruto huffed showing no signs that he was even in a fight. So clearly that was a straight up one sided ass whooping with Ichigo on the receiving end._

XxX

_(End of flashback)_

XxX

"Ah." Naruto sighed. "What an idiot. He actually thought he could bully me like that." Naruto shook his head with a disapproving look on his face. "…Shame on him."

*Knock-knock*

There was another faint knocking sound coming from the direction of the front door.

"I wonder who that is this time… It better not be that teme Ichigo." Naruto commented. "That's unless he wants another ass whooping." Naruto walked over to the door. "Ah!" A smile grew on Naruto's whiskered-features once he opened the door to see his girls standing there with their school uniforms on. "Karin-chan, Yuzu-chan, how are you two?"

"Hey, Naruto-kun." Yuzu greeted the boy of her attractions blessedly, "Wow Naruto-kun! You're not even hurt in the least."

"Why would I be?" Naruto asked innocently.

"You wouldn't Naruto." Karin insisted. "You ready for school?"

Naruto rolled his eyes, "I would be but for, ugh, Ichigo…" Naruto spoke in a deadpan tone and Karin rolled her eyes, "Let me just eat my ramen then we'll be good to go."

"Okay Naruto-kun." Yuzu spoke, knowing Naruto will eat his ramen very quickly.

Yuzu and Karin then waited in Tomoyo's house as Naruto devoured his ramen within a few seconds. That did not freak the two Kurosaki girls out because they've known Naruto ever since they were both little children, and as such both have got used to how the blond eats. With that done, the three then began to make their way towards Karakura middle school.

Along the way they encountered Ryosuke leaning back against the wall with his hands in his pockets.

"Hi Ryosuke-san." Yuzu greeted him with a smile.

"Ah…" Ryosuke sighed darkly, "Hey Uzumaki, hey Yuzu, hey Karin."

"What's up with you?" Naruto asked curiously, sensing how moody his long-time rival and somewhat friend felt. "You look like someone took a shit on you."

"Naruto-kun!" Yuzu scolded him slightly for his use of language. "Mind your language!"

"Very funny Uzumaki…" Ryosuke grumbled in reply.

Naruto wrapped his arm around Ryosuke's neck: "I'm sorry Ryosuke-teme. Tell ya what, how about we "skip" school and go to the arcade to play some video games?"

"That does sound somewhat cool." Ryosuke pondered the thought by rubbing his chin. "You're on Uzumaki. You can't beat my high scores!"

Naruto laughed boastfully, "We better get going the-." Was all Naruto could let out before he felt a hard hammer blow on the back of his head, making him wince. "Ow, Karin-chan!" Naruto held his head where Karin bashed him with her backpack.

"You're not skipping school, idiot." Karin commented.

"Karin-chan is right Naruto-kun. Mr S is already looking for any excuse to get you kicked out of school." Yuzu spoke knowingly.

"Awwww." Naruto soaked. "Alright let's go to boring school."

Karin smirked: "Good. See, it won't be all that bad."

"Maybe for you-."

"Grrrrrrrrrr." A loud primal roar interrupted Naruto; also making Karin flinch as she'd heard the roar too. Only Yuzu was oblivious to the monstrous noise.

Naruto turned his head to glance at Ryosuke. Ryosuke nodded at Naruto with his eyes narrowed.

"What's going on?" – Karin asked demandingly.

"Sorry Karin-chan, there's trouble. Ryosuke and I will have to deal with it." Naruto commented seriously.

"What? But Naruto-kun wh-?" Yuzu trailed off when Naruto planted a kiss on her cheek. Yuzu felt herself melt at the warm kiss given to her by Naruto, "Naruto-kun…" she cooed dreamily.

Naruto planted a kiss on Karin-chan's cheek blindingly, but it was still felt clearly by the girl. "Naruto!" Karin's face turned red. It was either a blush because Naruto kissed her on her cheek, or it was a sign of anger because Naruto kissed her on her cheek… hard to tell.

Naruto quickly fazed out before Karin even had time to react to the kiss he'd given her.

"Wait up Uzumaki!" Ryosuke sputtered awkwardly, not wanting to be left with the two girls as he disappeared from sight too.

A shocked expression was written all over Karin's face, witnessing the lad's vanishing acts, "How in the hell did they do that?"

Yuzu was still stuck in daydreaming mode to even care about anything else. "Naruto-kun… He… He kissed me!" She dreamily spoke. "Awwww…" she cooed romantically. She didn't even care if Naruto kissed Karin afterwards, she could get used to it as long as the blond kisses her too. "…Naruto-kun"

"He better come to school afterwards-." Karin's face returned to its usual deadpan expression. "-Or else there'll be hell to pay!"

Yuzu felt a bead of sweat roll off of the side of her face. "Let's go to school then sis. I'm sure Naruto-kun will be there later." She said optimistically so Naruto could kiss her more.

Karin nodded at her twin sister, and with that said the two Kurosaki girls began making their way to school without Naruto and Ryosuke.

XxX

(Outside of Karakura High School)

XxX

After Ichigo had put some bandages on his wounds he received from his "fight" with Naruto, he began making his way towards his school.

Ichigo couldn't help but feel sore about his defeat at the hands of Naruto. The kid had virtually annihilated him without even breaking a sweat! Ichigo knew he couldn't tell his friends about that. That was the last thing he'd want was for Tatsuki to start teasing him about how a kid who was three years younger than him but was still able to take him to the cleaners and left him out to dry.

"Ichigo." Ichigo was brought out of his thoughts when Rukia's voice reached his ears, "What happened to you Ichigo?" Rukia took note of the bandages on Ichigo's forehead and arms. "It'd seem someone gave you a good beating." She teased with a knowing smirk on her features.

A tick mark appeared on Ichigo's head. "Shut up!" He turned away from Rukia. "It's nothing but a few scrapes and bruises!"

"Oh really?" Rukia slyly asked. "It seems to me like a ravenous blond wolf torn you to pieces."

"Whatever." Ichigo responded coolly, trying not to show how embarrassed he truly was. Rukia just let out a little chuckle at him as she followed him into the school.

XxX

(Classroom)

XxX

"Ichigo!" Chad's usual emotionless face turned into a face full of shock once he noticed Ichigo walking into the classroom wrapped up in bandages, "What happened to you!?"

"Well-." Ichigo started, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "I got-."

"Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime's worried voice cut off Ichigo, "You're hurt!" Orihime wailed slightly as she saw Ichigo wrapped up in bandages like a mummy.

"Ichigo-kun!" Tatsuki shouted before Ichigo could respond to Orihime. "How'd you get like this!?"

And again someone else interrupted Ichigo. "Ichigoooooooooooooooooo!" It was Keigo's loud hyperactive voice. "You're injured! You won't be able to hang with us now!" Keigo bemoaned exaggeratedly.

Ichigo allowed a small smile to form onto his features, happy at his friends touching concern for his wellbeing. "I'm fine." He assured sincerely.

"Oh good…" Orihime breathe a sigh of relief, "It's nice to see that you're okay Kurosaki-kun!"

"Ae ya," Ichigo simply replied back.

"Ichigo." – Chad started gravely, narrowing his eyes, "Do you want me to help you get some… payback on the guys who did this to you?" He refused to believe one man or kami forbid boy, could do this to his friend Ichigo. "I got your back as always man."

"It's fine… Chado, thanks man." Ichigo responded appreciatively, he couldn't tell them that Naruto was the one who effortlessly destroyed him as if he was nothing but a baby to the blond boy.

"Ichigo you don't have to be scare. We're here to help you. We're your friends after all." Tatsuki declared.

"YEAH ICHIGO," Keigo yelled energetically, wrapping an arm around Ichigo's neck. "We've got your back!"

"I wonder what Asano-san could do to help," Mizuiro spoke up for the first time, letting everyone know of his presence.

"I'm not talking to you!" Keigo screamed back at his friend.

Ichigo rolled his eyes, "Really its fine." Ichigo brushed Keigo's arm off his shoulder, "It was an even fight. But I won, barely," Ichigo made up an excuse so his friends wouldn't have to find out who really lay him down for the count.

"Oh! Aright Ichigo, if you so." Chad accepted his excuse in his monotone, deciding to leave it at that.

"Hey, you're Rukia? Right?" Orihime greeted Rukia in her usual cheery fashion. "I'm Inoue Orihime. It's nice to meet you!"

"It's nice to meet you too, Inoue-chan." Rukia replied in her fake voice, which had Ichigo rolling his eyes.

"It's nice to meet ya Rukia-chan." Mizuiro stated, politely.

"Watch out for this one Rukia. He's smooth with the ladies." Ichigo exclaimed with a scowl on his battered features. A confused expression was written all over Rukia's face.

"Huh? I just prefer older women." Mizuiro slyly replied.

Ichigo rolled eyes. The teacher then walked into the classroom, all the students took their places at their desks, allowing the teacher to teach.

Ichigo turned his head towards Rukia and noticed the short woman hiding a smirk underneath that fake smile directed at him.

'This is going to be one long day,' Ichigo thought with a sigh afterwards.

XxX

(Elsewhere)

XxX

The two had made their way to an open field to be greeted by one hell of a hollow.

"Ok Uzumaki, how do we become shinigamis?" Ryosuke asked, upon realizing they can't defeat this hollow without becoming shinigamis.

"Oh shit." Naruto murmured and Ryosuke raised an eyebrow, "We can't! Not unless Kisuke hits us with the end of his scabbard-cane thingy!"

"WHAT!" Ryosuke yelled ferociously, sounding shocked. "You idiot! Why'd you chase after this hollow if you knew you couldn't become a shinigami!?"

"Stop yelling at me! I just forgot!" Naruto shouted back at Ryosuke.

"You sure picked a brilliant time to forget!" Ryosuke exclaimed sarcastically.

"Argh!" Naruto was beat there. He'd curse Kisuke for not having any soul badges. "Damn you Shadow-Eyes!"

As if summoned by his name, Kisuke responded leisurely, "Ah! Hey lads, need any help?"

Both Naruto and Ryosuke turned around to be greeted by the Urahara crew.

"Um… Hi Kagoshima-kun." Ururu shyly stuttered.

Ryosuke merely waved at her, making her cheeks turn red from a proper blush across it.

"Ain't he a scary one?" Kisuke asked rhetorically.

"Shadow-Eyes!" Naruto marched over to Kisuke. "Turn me into a shinigami-." Naruto trailed off when Ryosuke budged him down to the ground. "HEY! TEME!"

"Shut up Uzumaki, I'm fighting this hollow!" Ryosuke stated, scowling. "Now give me that cane already!" Ryosuke rudely grabbed the cane from Kisuke's hands, "Here goes nothing!" Ryosuke pressed the cane into his forehead. His soul form spouting from his physical body, as his body fell lifeless to the floor. "Come on! Who wants some?" Ryosuke ran straight at the hollow, determined to defeat it and prove to Uzumaki that he was just as good if not better than him! 'I will prove once and for all… I'M BETTER THAN UZUMAKI!'

"That guy has attitude issues." – Jinta mumbled nonchalantly, folding his arms behind his head.

"Jinta-kun, you shouldn't be mean to Kagoshima-kun like that." Ururu stated timidly.

Jinta looked at her harshly, "Why, because he's your boyfriend!?"

Ururu blushed and turned her gaze from Jinta to open space. Naruto remained oblivious to Ururu's blush, and instead focused his attention on Ryosuke's fight with the hollow.

Ryosuke spun on his heels, swirling his blades around as fast as he could, aiming to slash the hollow to pieces. The hollow dodged Ryosuke's blow and head-butted the silver eyed boy down to the ground.

"Woooo, that's gotta leave a mark!" Kisuke sadistically commented.

"Aim for the face ya idiot!" Naruto yelled. "That way you can purify it!"

"Shut up Uzumaki, I know what I'm doing!" Ryosuke shouted.

Ryosuke flipped up off of the ground. "I will kill this hollow!" Ryosuke swung his arm around in an overhead manner, bringing his blue hilted Zanpakuto towards the hollow at a ferocious pace.

"Grrrrrrr!" The hollow roared as it did an aerobic back-flip, successfully dodging Ryosuke's blow, leaving the boy to grunt in frustration. The hollow drove his fist towards Ryosuke's chest, forcing Ryosuke put up his two Zanpakutos in front of his chest in an x like block, only just about blocking the hollow's attack. "**I will devour you****!**" The Hollow assured.

Ryosuke grunted angrily. The hollow placed his hands together and extended them up in the air, and then brought both of his hands down on Ryosuke at a ferocious pace!

Ryosuke quickly managed to skid several feet backwards, leaving the hollow to smash into the ground immensely, creating a few spider cracks on the ground as it did this.

"I won't lose!" Ryosuke declared to himself, trying to convince himself more than anyone else that he can actually defeat this hollow.

Ryosuke ran towards the hollow again, leaving the debris dust in the wake of his speed. With a battle cry, Ryosuke launched himself up in the air, screaming once again, Ryosuke brought both of his Zanpakutos down on the hollow in a spinning attack.

The Hollow brought his arm up to block Ryosuke's attack. "Aaaaaaahhhhhh!" The hollow screamed agonizingly as Ryosuke's Zanpakuto drove through his hard skin, and almost cut his arm off completely. The red blood of the hollow spattered out of his injured arm.

Ryosuke earned himself a cheer from Ururu and Tessai, a round of applause from Naruto and Kisuke, and a smile from Jinta.

However, those celebrations and cheers were immediately turned into gasps when the hollow fought back strongly; crashing his head directly into Ryosuke's head. The force of the strong head-butt sent Ryosuke flying backwards before coming to a stop against the tree.

"Ryosuke!" Naruto called out. "Let me take over from here!"

"No Uzumaki!" Ryosuke responded through gritted teeth as he pulled himself up, "I'm stronger than you. I can win!"

Naruto rolled eyes: "You're going to get yourself killed dumb-ass. Just let me cleanse this hollow already!"

"Noooooooo." Ryosuke ferociously yelled back in response, making everyone gasp in shock. "I'd rather die than accept help from anyone. If there's one thing a warrior will always keep…HIS PRIDE!" Ryosuke's aura suddenly flared up, the green spiritual pressure surfaced around his entire body, the ground cracked underneath his feet caused by the immense force of Ryosuke's power!

"Oh Kagoshima-kun…" Ururu whispered softly, as if she had just seen the real Ryosuke.

Tessai's, Kisuke's, and Jinta's eyes all widened at Ryosuke's speech about pride. They never expected the boy to be so honourable.

Naruto, deadpanned. "Don't get yourself killed idiot. I don't want to have to explain to your mama how ya died!"

"You won't have to Uzumaki." Ryosuke scowled in reply.

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"The hollow let out a huge menacing roar as it dashed straight towards Ryosuke at such pace it caught the boy off guard. The hollow hammered his palm into Ryosuke's nose.

Ryosuke grunted loudly, his nose was broken the instant the hollow hit it. Ryosuke went skidding backwards before crashing into a tree.

"Ryosuke/Kagoshima-kun/Idiot!" Naruto, Ururu and Jinta all called out simultaneously and with concern filling their voices.

"Forget this! I'm taking over now!" Naruto stated resolutely, "Shadow-Eyes hit me with that cane of yours!"

"Your wish is my command!" Kisuke responded calmly.

Kisuke slammed the heel of his cane into Naruto's forehead quickly, there by releasing Naruto's shinigami form from his physical body.

"Alright!" Naruto exclaimed happily, he just loved being a shinigami. "My turn now," Naruto sprinted off, almost matching a bullet in terms of raw speed alone. Naruto once again had the white head-cloth tied around his forehead which kept his incredible spiritual power in check.

'If he learns the flash-step-,' Kisuke amusedly thought to himself, knowing Naruto could easily surpass Yoruichi's (The goddess of flash) flash-step by heaps and bounds. 'He may even break the light barriers.' Kisuke surmised. 'That'd be something. First shinigami to ever move at the speed of light! Uzumaki Naruto… He's already moving at the speed of lightning while in his Raijin mode. I don't see why not.'

"…U-Uzumaki" – Ryosuke stammered, struggling to stand up. "I said I can handle this myself…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever." Naruto replied in a bored tone he most likely picked up from his beloved Karin-chan. "I need to practice my moves too, ya' know," As Naruto spoke this; he simultaneously raised his left index finger and pointed it at the hollow. "It's time to unravel my new secret killer move."

This had everyone, including the hollow, raising their eyebrows. _Secret killing move?_ What the hell he was talking about?

Naruto smirked as a tiny ball of electricity began charging up on the tip of his outstretched index finger.

_XxX_

_(Flashback – Yesterday)_

XxX

_Naruto was running around Karakura town, searching for the hollow that was Bobomaru at the time. After a few minutes of hopelessly sprinting around the town, Naruto realized he didn't have a clue to where Bobomaru was. So, he closed his eyes and entered his inner world, hoping his Zanpakuto spirit would know the whereabouts of his friend and rival Ryosuke._

_"Yasuhiro." Naruto called out as he found himself standing on the floating pyramid within his inner world. "I need your help."_

_"Yes, Naruto." Yasuhiro started calmly, appearing in front of Naruto from just out of thin air. "Just focus your senses on Ryosuke, and you'll be able to find him." Yasuhiro finished, as if reading Naruto's mind._

_"Oh okay," Naruto sounded somewhat surprised his Zanpakuto spirit already knew what he'd wanted to ask before he even got a chance to ask it. "Guess I'll be off then."_

_"Wait Naruto." Yasuhiro stopped Naruto. "I need to discuss something with you."_

_"Huh?" Confusion was written all over Naruto's face. "What about?"_

_"About your powers." Yasuhiro began. He then quickly put his hand up to stop Naruto from speaking. "Naruto, you have a form, and that form is called Raijin mode." Yasuhiro continued, once again having to silence Naruto by putting up his hand. "This form will allow you to move at lightning speed for three minutes. But because you have that head-cloth on your head to conceal your spiritual pressure, you'll only be able to hold that form for 10 seconds."_

_"Awwww that sucks." Naruto soaked. "Shadow-Eyes screwed me over."_

_"Do not threat Naruto. Raijin mode takes up a lot of spiritual pressure. So much that it'll burn up the whole amount of your energy within two bursts of it. That's when you haven't got the head-cloth on. When you have got the head-cloth on, your power is limited. Why, because you simply have too much to control. So, when the head-cloth is on you'll only be able to hold that form for a maximum of 30 seconds. That's three times you can use Raijin mode when the head-cloth's on. Ten seconds each."_

_"I suppose that's not too bad." Naruto replied._

_"You also have a special move, that'll be unique just for you." Yasuhiro added in and Naruto's eyes lit up, "With me as your Zanpakuto, the power of lightning is at your fingertips."_

_"ALRIGHT," Naruto cheered. "I knew having a lightning Zanpakuto would be awesome."_

_"You should be honoured Naruto." Yasuhiro stated. "No other shinigami that I can think of have ever had the amount of spiritual pressure it takes to control absolute lightning. If you can gain complete control over lightning, you'd probably be able to annihilate a city while in Raijin mode, with this one attack I'm going to show you."_

_Naruto's eyes widened in response to this as he raised his hand to gaze intently at his palm. He never realized the insanely amount of destructive power lightning possesses! "Wow." Naruto spoke with awe in his voice. "Alright old man, what's the attack you're going to show me?"_

_Yasuhiro raised his left index finger, "Remember Naruto, this attack is deadly. You'd be able to obliterate a large area without your head-cloth on, and you'd only have one burst of it until you gain complete mastery over your Zanpakuto." A tiny ball of electricity began charging up on the tip of Yasuhiro's finger. "With that being said, you'd have two weaker bursts of this move with your head-cloth on, why? Because your power is limited thus is more control. Whereas when your head-cloth is off, your energy comes out in one big uncontrollably, but very powerful burst."_

_Naruto could only gawk at the incredible power of the beam of energy charging up on the tip of his Zanpakuto's finger. Naruto was forced to cover his ears when a thunderous noise began echoing from the lightning on Yasuhiro's finger._

_Yasuhiro fired the powerful beam of energy directly at the sky. Naruto watched in amazement when the clouds parted a bit. And before he left his inner world to go find Ryosuke, Yasuhiro stated clearly that every-time he used his signature attack he'd get a little stronger each time and before long, he'd be able to fire it an infinite amount of times… effortlessly._

_(End of flashback)_

Ryosuke screamed as he was forced to cover his ears from the powerful thunderous noise being emitted by Naruto's move. "What the hell Uzumaki?"

"Is that loud or what?" Kisuke asked rhetorically. Ururu, Tessai and Jinta all nodded and slammed their hands onto their ears, hoping to block out the noise Naruto's move was emitting.

Naruto's move was so powerful it created a ring of stuff on the ground around his feet. It literally forced Naruto's feet into the ground like the earth just couldn't handle Naruto's immense power! Naruto's index finger vibrated violently, like a washing machine out of control. "**Kaminari Hatsubai: Zettaiteki hakai. Roketto kyanon. HA (Lightning Release: Absolute destruction. Rocket cannon HA**)!" Naruto called out as he launched his rocket cannon from the tip of his outstretched index finger at the hollow that was frozen with fear.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" The hollow could only scream as the powerful beam of lightning shined so brightly it threatened to blind anyone who dared to even look at it. It sparked so much it rippled the air itself, making the leaves on the trees sway upwards as if a giant needed some hair and it was taking leaves from the tree.

*Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom!*

A huge explosion erupted so big it could be seen from miles. The pour magnitude of the rocket cannon not only completely erased the hollow out of existence; it blew everyone (except for Naruto and Kisuke) off of their feet! The rocks could be seen bouncing away from the death bomb that was Naruto's rocket cannon HA!

"S-Such incredible power!" Tessai stated as his eyes widened at the sight of truly incredible destructive force.

The beam vanished in a swish sound, leaving behind an enormous crater that stretched on for miles. Luckily for the Urahara crew, they were far away; otherwise they'd have been annihilated in that one blast. So clearly "**Kaminari Hatsubai: Zettaiteki hakai. Roketto ****kyanon**", was a name suited for the destructive blast of energy fired by Naruto!

"Ah," Tessai's, Ururu's, and Jinta's jaws were hitting the floor as they all stared with wide open eyes at the massive crater that reached their feet.

"Any closer and we would have been dead." Tessai spoke with some hesitance in his voice.

"What is he?" Jinta murmured, feeling a bead of sweat run down his cheek. He certainly knew never to mess with Naruto!

"Uzumaki." Ryosuke softly growl out, but the frustration could be sensed within Ryosuke.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Guess I kind of over did it there."

Everyone except for Kisuke all fell on their heads with their legs sticking up at that comment.

"What'd I say?" Naruto asked innocently.

xXx

(Moments Earlier - Karakura High School – Ichigo and friends)

Ichigo sat with his back resting against a tree and his arms folded behind his head languidly. Rukia was sat around a circle surrounded by the other girls who consisted of Tatsuki, Orihime, a girl named Ryo, Chizuru, who'd tried to grope Orihime earlier but ended up being hammered to the face by a furious Tatsuki! No one messed with Tatsuki's friend-like sister when she was around if they knew what was good for them. Reiko and Noemi were the other two girls. All six of them were enjoying their respective meals (Orihime with her weird food as always) and just gossiping about life. Rukia of course had to pretend like she knew what they were talking about.

Ichigo sighed lazily with his arms folded behind his head resting against the tree trying to relax. The orange haired man was still feeling sore about the beating Naruto gave him. 'I'll get him back for that one day,' Ichigo concluded to himself. He couldn't just let Naruto get away with kicking his ass the way he did. Hell no! Ichigo would have his revenge on Naruto… someday.

"So Rukia." Reiko began while Rukia was sipping on some hot tea. "Are you and Ichigo going out?"

Rukia was caught by surprise by this random question, and as such ended up choking on her tea. She quickly banged her chest, successfully stopping herself from choking to death. "No that's ridiculous. We're just friends." Rukia responded with her cheeks coloured in red.

"Are you sure?" This time it was Noemi who asked. "You're with him quite a lot, and he's not a bad looking guy to be fair."

Rukia's cheeks turned a darker shade of red. "Yes I'm sure. We're just friends."

Orihime got an idea. "Maybe Rukia is from a secret agent society and she's here to recruit Kurosaki-kun to the society."

Rukia stared dully at Orihime. 'Does she-… Na of course not.'

"Ah." Tatsuki sighed. "You sure have an active imagination Orihime-chan."

"Oops silly me." – Orihime replied in her bubbly way. "Guess I forgot."

"Ooooooo! My hime is so sweet!" Chizuru exclaimed as tried to grab Orihime's assets. Tatsuki knocked her out with a fierce punch to the head.

Rukia and Orihime both felt beads of sweat fall off of the side of their faces. Both remained oblivious to Chizuru's attractions towards Orihime, just like how Ichigo remained oblivious to Rukia's blush at him.

Chad was about to speak to Ichigo until a huge earthquake suddenly hit them, making them all tremble to the sides.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh! Its Armageddon!" Keigo screamed loudly, the fear building up inside of him.

Everyone's eyes widened as they felt the earth around them vibrate so much it felt as if an elephant stampede was taking place right there. Ichigo let out a silent gasp when he saw a huge blue lightning-like-shall pulsing madly in the distance. No one other then he and Rukia were aware of the spirit blast that was erupting in the distance. They all just thought it was a random earthquake that occurred out of nowhere. Ichigo turned to Rukia, the look in the short woman's eyes told him that they'd speak about that later. Ichigo didn't know why, but he'd a strange feeling that it was Naruto who caused that immense explosion. That frightened Ichigo slightly, knowing for a fact he'd have to put up with Naruto being with his (Ichigo's) sisters if Naruto can release that kind of immense power in one shot.

XxX

(With Naruto and Ryosuke)

XxX

Ryosuke had only just got his wounds patched up by a caring Ururu. That did not matter to the silver eyed boy as he was more focused on the fact Naruto just made a huge smoking crater like it was an everyday thing. He made turning the area into a wasteland a child's play thing.

Ryosuke soaked as he jumped back into his physical body.

Naruto hopped back into his body, "What's wrong Ryosuke-teme?" Naruto asked as he wrapped an arm around Ryosuke's shoulder. Ryosuke just scowled in response. "Don't be mad! Look on the bright side, I bet Shadow-Eyes has those soul badges for us so we can get stronger when we want. Oh, and save the souls of the innocent."

"…Whatever Uzumaki." Ryosuke muttered.

"Ah." Naruto sighed. "Tell you what, why don't we "skip" school and go to the arcade and play video games."

"Sounds fun Uzumaki. I'm not going to lie to you. But wait! What about Karin-san! If she finds out you've skipped school you know you're going to be in trouble with her." Ryosuke exclaimed.

"Who cares?" Naruto grinned carelessly. "Don't worry man; she is one of my girls, so I think I can sweet talk my way out of trouble."

"Righttttt." Ryosuke hesitantly replied back to Uzumaki.

"We're off then. Who needs school anyway? Not me! I'm too strong for school anyway." Naruto boasted.

"Aaaaaaaah so you're both planning on playing hooky, are you?" Kisuke stated, covering his face with his fan.

"Yeah." Naruto's response was a shrug of his shoulders. "So what?"

"OK have fun." Kisuke took out two soul badges out of his green kimono. "Take these with you in case you run into another hollow." Kisuke threw the two soul badges at Naruto and Ryosuke, who both caught one each expertly.

"Thanks Shadow-Eyes." Naruto grinned happily. "I can't wait! I'm going to master how to control my Raijin mode and my Roketto kyanon (Rocket cannon), to the fullest extent!"

"Show-off." Ryosuke hissed, trying to sound nonchalant as well as trying to hide his burning jealously.

"Now we can play some video games at the arcade." Naruto cheery says.

"Yeah, yeah." Ryosuke commented in a tired tone, hiding his frustration. 'Well at least he can't beat my high scores on the arcade games. That's something I've got over him."

"Um….bye Kagoshima-kun." – Ururu timidly says.

"Eh bye." Ryosuke simply replied back to the shy girl.

With that said and done both Naruto and Ryosuke began to slowly make their way towards the arcade, planning on avoiding Karin-chan for the rest of the year!

Tessai looked at the crater Naruto made with his powerful Lightning style: Absolute destruction. Rocket cannon HA move, and smiled softly. "Uzumaki-dono is something special."

"Yeah." – Kisuke commented. "I tell ya Naruto could make a good spirit king one day with power like that."

"Spirit king?" – Confusion was written all over Jinta's face. "What's that?"

"I'll explain when we get home kids." Kisuke assured and Jinta and Ururu both nodded at Kisuke, and with that finished, the Urahara crew returned home, knowing for a fact that they've got a powerful and truly amazing ally on their side in Uzumaki Naruto!


	7. The Vow and the Sleeping Dormant

**Disclaimer: I don't Bleach or Naruto.**

**Chapter edited.**

**Chapter 7**

**The Vow and the Sleeping Dormant**

* * *

The hours quickly passed by, and the school day was over. Tatsuki had asked Orihime if she wanted to be walked home. Orihime had thanked her friend for the offered company, but opted to walk home alone. Tatsuki had raised an eyebrow when Orihime spoke this, something about the orange haired girl didn't seem right. Usually Orihime would jump at the chance to spend time with her best friend Tatsuki or any of her friends in general. So, why would Orihime, the happiest, bubbliest girl in class, want to be alone for?

The answer was very simple, and very near. In fact the answer to Orihime's worries was walking home with her crush, Kurosaki-kun. Kuchiki Rukia was the answer to Orihime's worries. Ever since her friend Reiko had asked Rukia if she and Ichigo were going out, to which Rukia flinched and blushed instantly, Orihime couldn't help but worry that maybe Reiko was right after all! Maybe her crush Kurosaki-kun was going out with Rukia-chan!

Orihime could feel a burning jealously well up inside of her just at the thought of Kurosaki and Kuchiki going out. This fact frightened Orihime, realizing how much she envied Rukia being as close as she was to Ichigo.

"I know!" An invisible light bulb popped on top of Orihime's head, just as she made it to the front door of her apartment. "I'll go out and buy some ingredients. Then I'll come back home and make myself a super awesome meal!" Orihime returned to her usual brightness. "Yep!" Orihime smiled broadly to herself as she soon raced into her apartment, changed out of her school uniform, and then left her home so she can buy some ingredients, thus returning afterwards to make herself the usual weird stuff she so often makes.

XxX

(High Street – Ryosuke)

The silver eyed boy felt frustrated as hell! Not only did that clown Uzumaki defeat that hollow with his all so powerful: **Lightning style: Absolute destruction. Rocket cannon HA move**, he also beat all Ryosuke's high scores on the video games they usually play when they head to the Arcade.

"Urghhhhhhh!" Ryosuke grunted, veins popping out of his cheeks, showing how frustrated he was, "Why can't I beat him?!"

Ryosuke and Naruto had spent the whole day playing video games in the Arcade, not even caring what their respective guardians would think of them for skipping school. Ryosuke failed on every occasion to win back his rightful place as the king of games. Maybe Kami just doesn't like Ryosuke. What else was there? Why can't he beat the blond? Why does he feel so inferior to Naruto?

"Damn!" Ryosuke pounded the wall of a building, his frustration reaching its boiling point. Ryosuke was marching down the streets after leaving the Arcade, having failed to defeat Naruto on every single game. Bad luck must have it in for Ryosuke. "This is just not my day!"

"Mommy, mommy," A little girl roughly about five years old tugged on a lady's arm. The girl had curly blond hair, crystal blue coloured eyes, and a ton of freckles all over her cheeks. The little girl was wearing a big puffy pink coat, white trousers with pink flowers, and pink sandals on her feet. "Why is that boy talking to himself?" The little girl pointed to a ranting Ryosuke.

"Don't look at him." The lady by the little girl's side responded back to her daughter. She had long blue hair; two pigtails were hanging off of the side of her head. Her eyes were an emerald green color and she was wearing a baby blue shirt, a black jacket, black trousers and shoes on her feet. "He probably just needs mental health care." She whispered so Ryosuke wouldn't hear her.

Ryosuke's ears wiggled slightly, "What!?" He growled angrily at the woman. "You got something to say to me woman!" Ryosuke's eyes were suddenly filled with such intensity and such rage it'd the woman picking up her daughter and literally sprinting off like her backside was on fire and she was being chased by a monstrous wolf. "…Coward."

Ryosuke walked on grumpily, occasionally scaring away a few people that were brave enough to make a witty remark about him. He even lay a full grown man down for the count. Poor guy didn't even know who he was dealing with before Ryosuke powered his fist directly into the man's temple, leaving him lying unconscious on the floor while he continued walking off to where ever his feet were taking him.

"Eh." Ryosuke stopped his subconscious movement. He found his eyes drifting aimlessly around the place he'd just walked to. Good thing he did stop because he suddenly found himself at a stop light with a few cars speeding past every few seconds. The motoring sounds of the cars passing by must've been what had bought Ryosuke to a halt. "Ah." With a sigh Ryosuke pressed the button on the stop light, waiting patiently until he'd be allowed to walk across the road.

Ryosuke suddenly found his eyes glancing to the opposite side of the road, and not a moment too late as a girl with orange burnt hair was about to get herself run over by a car!

"YOU STUPID GIRL!" Ryosuke shouted harshly as he sprinted towards the girl so he could save her life.

"Huh?" The girl wondered, obviously too deep in thought to realize the speeding car was about to run her over.

Ryosuke grabbed the girl by her rather huge assets and did an aerobatic front flip, only just avoiding the speeding car that zoomed past quickly, blowing their clothes slightly as it did.

Ryosuke put the girl down on the pavement, looking down at her with his usual scowl look on his face. "Foolish girl! You could have gotten yourself killed!"

"Ah." The girl let out a tiny gasp from her mouth; she didn't realize how close she was to dying. "Oh! I'm sorry; I must've been too wrapped up in my thoughts to watch where I was going." She giggled cutely.

Ryosuke rolled his eyes, "Just watch where you're going next time."

"Right." The girl saluted him in a cheery way, "Thank you for saving my life… Um… I'm sorry; I didn't catch your name."

"Kagoshima… Kagoshima Ryosuke…" Ryosuke responded nonchalantly.

"I'm Inoue Orihime!" The girl now known as Orihime introduced herself, smiling. "I'm so grateful that you saved my life. Allow me to make you a meal at my apartment. It's only a little while away."

"Huh?" This had Ryosuke wondering. The girl was actually willing to invite a complete stranger whose she'd just met over to her apartment. That's just madness! But at this moment, Ryosuke couldn't care less. "Alright." Ryosuke found himself reluctantly agreeing to go to this strange woman's apartment.

"Oh goody!" Orihime responded bubbly, grabbing Ryosuke's hand and beginning to pull him away to her apartment. "This is going to be so much fun!"

Ryosuke sighed silently, 'This is going to be one long day.' Ryosuke thought, allowing himself to be dragged by Orihime, not knowing how much Orihime would need his power later on that night.

xXx

(On the streets of Karakura town with Naruto)

xXx

"What to do?" Naruto asked himself. Naruto realized he couldn't go home unless he wanted his grandma to yell at him for not attending school. He also couldn't spend time with his two girls, unless he wanted Karin-chan to beat him up for not going to school.

"Ah." Naruto sighed. "This sucks! Where's a hollow when you need one," Naruto looked sharply over his shoulder, just hoping that mentioning a hollow would summon one to his location so he can fight it. "Damn it! Are all the hollows too frightened to fight me or something?" Naruto ranted. Naruto folded his arms behind his head. "Guess I can't blame them. I'd be scare of fighting me too," He chuckled.

Naruto suddenly got an invisible light bulb above his head. "I know, I'll train inside my inner world with Yasuhiro. Yep, that's a great idea." Naruto commented with a grin on his face. But then Naruto remembered something. "But where do I put my body? I can't go home because grandma Tomoyo will be waiting there to yell at me! I can't go to the Kurosaki clinic because Karin-chan will be waiting there to beat me up…" Naruto rubbed his chin to ponder his dilemma. "I know," Naruto snapped his fingers, having come up with the situation to his problem.

Naruto immediately dashed off to the park; upon getting to the park the blond found a toilet. "If I leave my body in here while I train inside my inner world, no one will bother me. Hehe, it's brilliant! Man… I'm so smart." Naruto grinned as he walked inside the toilet and immediately shut the door behind him.

"Awww," He was forced to hold his nose when the foul stench of the bathroom hit his nose at full force. "It stinks in here! Oh well, it'll have to do." Naruto took out his soul badge from his pocket. "Here goes nothing…" Naruto pressed the badge onto his chest softly, releasing his soul form from his physical body, leaving his physical body to fall limb to the floor.

"Alright! It's time to train." Naruto exclaimed. Naruto made sure that the door of the toilet was locked. The last thing the blond would want was for someone to walk into the bathroom and see his body lying unconscious on the floor.

Naruto sat down on the toilet, "Alright! The training begins." With that said, Naruto closed his eyes, entering a meditation state so he could enter his inner world to train with his Zanpakuto.

XxX

(Elsewhere - in Karakura town - with Ichigo and Rukia)

XxX

School had finished for Ichigo and Rukia, and as such, both were on their way towards the site of the huge explosion that occurred not too long ago.

"Why the hell couldn't anyone else but us see that huge explosion!?" Ichigo ranted. "It seems to me anyone within miles could've seen it!"

"Normal humans cannot see spirits Ichigo." – Rukia explained informatively, still walking towards the site she witnessed the large destructive blast of energy go off. "It's because of that is why they also can't see spirit energy."

"Makes sense, I suppose." Ichigo growled. "Who in the hell do you think could've unleash that amount of energy?"

Rukia placed her finger on her bottom chin thoughtfully, "I have a hunch."

"Don't tell me Naruto-san did it." Ichigo stressed.

"Huh?" Rukia wondered. "What's wrong Ichigo? Are you scared that Naruto could blow you to pieces if he was the one that caused that explosion?"

"W-What? N-No!" Ichigo stammered. "I just don't think he could pull off such a move!"

"Whatever Ichigo-." Rukia trailed off when she and Ichigo both turned a corner, "W-What in t-the hell-…" Rukia stammered. Rukia's and Ichigo's eyes shot wide open in shock and awe staring at a huge crater that stretched on for miles! "No way! How can anyone possess this kind of power?"

Ichigo was speechless! His jaw was slightly dropping off; his mouth was open with nothing but air escaping out of it. 'There's no way Naruto could've done this.' Ichigo concluded. He refused to believe that the blond kid could unleash this kind of immense power!

After a tense moment of gawking at the huge crater, Rukia decided it was time to get to work. "Come on Ichigo. We've got to get to work! Hollows aren't going to deal with themselves, you know."

It took Ichigo a few seconds to snap out of his stupor. 'I guess I'll just have to start getting the hang of calling Karin and Yuzu… Uzumaki-san.' Ichigo could feel a burning amount of pour frustration well up inside of him when he thought this, 'Screw that!'

"Ichigo." Rukia's voice brought Ichigo out of his thoughts. "Come on, it's time to get to work."

"Okay," Ichigo responded coolly, keeping his reaction overseeing the huge crater "supposedly" made by "Naruto" hidden. "Let's get to work."

Rukia smirked: "Good to see you're taking the role of a shinigami seriously."

Ichigo didn't reply; he just glared at Rukia with that scowl look on his face. Rukia smirked even more and dragged Ichigo off to cleanse the wandering hollows that'd be out looking to fill their stomachs.

XxX

(Orihime's apartment)

XxX

"Dinner will be ready soon Kagoshima-san." Orihime's bubbly voice came from the direction of the kitchen.

Ryosuke still didn't know why he even accepted this strange girl's invitation to dinner! Perhaps he felt sorry for her in some way? The girl did seem to have a sad look hidden deep within those big eyes filled with all the happiest no amount of gold could buy.

"Okay," Ryosuke responded meekly, sitting lotus-style near a small table within Orihime's apartment. "Ahhh." Ryosuke quietly sighed as he glanced around Orihime's apartment.

The apartment of Inoue Orihime was very nicely decorated. Coated with pink paint on the walls and there was a stack of teddy bears near the wall. So clearly Orihime was the girly type. This, Ryosuke was sure of.

As Ryosuke observed Orihime's apartment, his eyebrow slowly raised once he spotted a shrine with a picture frame on it. This would have thrown Ryosuke off guard if he didn't notice the sadness hidden deep within Orihime's eyes. Ryosuke had a feeling that Orihime may have lost someone dear to her within her young life, and this shrine seemed proof of that.

'Better go check it out first before I start making assumptions.' Ryosuke thought as he simultaneously arose from his lotus position and strolled over to the shrine.

'Hmm.' Ryosuke hummed in thought. The picture frame showed a photo of a man that appeared to be in his late twenties maybe early thirties when the picture was taken. 'Is this her brother?' Ryosuke ventured a guess. The guy looked a little too young to be her dad. 'Cousin perhaps,' That was also a possibly, because the guy in the picture looked a little bit like Orihime, not by much, but in some ways he could tell they were related. '…Poor girl.' Ryosuke solemnly thought. He wasn't heartless or stupid, he'd already assumed the guy was dead; there were flowers and cards by the picture of him. And on the card it stated, "Sorry for your loss," so it was as clear as day to Ryosuke that Orihime lost a close family member of some sort.

The sound of the doorbell going off made Ryosuke jumped but he quickly straightened his composure, trying to pretend like he didn't just look at the shrine of the dead guy.

"Would you answer the door for me Kagoshima-san?" Orihime asked sweetly, poking her head from just around the corner of the kitchen.

"Sure." Ryosuke answered, relieved Orihime didn't question him for the reason why he was observing the shrine of her decreased one. Ryosuke casually took his time walking over to the front door. The bell sounded again, clearly whoever was outside at this current time was eager to see Orihime. "Hold your horses already!" Ryosuke raised his voice to a louder volume.

xXx

"Huh?" The person on the outside wondered, having heard a male voice within her friend's apartment. "Did Orihime invite someone to her place?" Tatsuki was the person who guessed.

Tatsuki immediately forgot the question she was asking herself when the door of Orihime's apartment opened up, revealing a boy wearing the Karakura middle school uniform, and having a scowl look on his face most likely from annoyance.

Tatsuki narrowed her eyes, "What are you doing in Orihime's apartment?" Tatsuki shouted furiously, jumping to the conclusion that this boy must have taken Orihime hostage. And her retaliation to her best friend getting taken hostage within the bounds of her own home was to send a side kick at Ryosuke's midriff.

"Ugrrhh…" Ryosuke let out a groan of frustration as he calmly caught Tatsuki's left foot in his palm effortlessly, making the karate-girl's eyes widen the moment her foot was grabbed by Ryosuke. "Just my luck; fighting weak little girls is a waste of my time."

Tatuski's eyes narrowed at the insult as she swiftly brought her foot from Ryosuke and slammed it angrily on the floor, and scoffed: "Hmph. Tough guy, eh." A smirk formed on Tatsuki's lips. "Why don't you and I settle this dispute with a good old fashion fight, eh? That's unless you're too scare to fight a girl."

Ryosuke scoffed, "Whatever." Ryosuke turned away from Tatsuki superciliously, "You coming in or what?" Ryosuke asked, looking over his shoulder at the short haired girl.

Tatsuki's eye twitched, "You cocky!" Saliva flew out of Tatsuki's mouth when she yelled this. Tatsuki was about to attack Ryosuke again but stopped herself when Orihime's voice reached her ears.

"Hi Tatsuki-chan!" Orihime greeted her good friend in her usual exuberant fashion. "What brings you to the home of Inoue!?"

Ryosuke looked at Orihime weirdly, 'This girl's mad!'

"Orihime-chan." Tatsuki murmured, glancing at Ryosuke. "Who is he? More importantly, what is he doing here?

Ryosuke thought the girl was being too demanding to be a guest of Orihime; somehow, he figured Orihime wouldn't mind at all.

"Oh!" Orihime clapped her hands together, sounding like she just remembered she'd to introduce Ryosuke and Tatsuki to each other. Orihime placed her hand on Ryosuke's shoulder. "Tatsuki, this is Kagoshima Ryosuke!" Orihime had a big smile plastered on her face. "Kagoshima-san saved my life today. I'm very grateful for that."

"What!" Tatsuki's eyes widened as a gasp simultaneously escaped her mouth. "O-Orihime-chan w-what happened to you?" She stammered because panic mode was kicking in.

"She almost got run over by a car, but I saved her. Big deal." Ryosuke answered for Orihime in an uninterested tone of voice.

Tatsuki turned her head towards Ryosuke and sent him the meanest glare she could muster up, "Who asked you?"

"But that's right Tatsuki-chan." Orihime spoke up, "Kagoshima-san saved my life! If it wasn't for him I wouldn't be here now." Orihime smiled softly at Ryosuke, she was, and is still truly grateful to Ryosuke. "So I'm making him dinner of a token of my gratitude. You can join us if you want, Tatsuki-chan."

After Orihime finished explaining, she once again grabbed Ryosuke by his hand and pulled him into her apartment.

"Orihime…" Tatsuki murmured. Orihime's too trusting for her own good; Tatsuki knows this all too well. "I better go in there and keep an eye on him." Tatsuki walked into Orihime's apartment and shut the door behind her, just because Orihime wasn't suspicious about Ryosuke doesn't mean Tatsuki wasn't! The karate girl would stay and keep watch over her dear friend Orihime; not realizing how much Orihime needed Ryosuke's power.

XxX

(Elsewhere – Hueco Mundo? – Hollows?)

XxX

There were seven shadowy figures, each of which were all surrounding the terrified victim they'd kidnapped from the world of the living. The spirit man trembled, his skin colour turned completely white from the overwhelming fear he was feeling inside.

"W-What d-do y-you w-want w-with m-me?" The man stammered.

The man found his eyes glancing aimlessly around the dark, eerie place these creatures have pulled him into. Terrifying black skies, sand that coated with red blood, as if this site before him was a battlefield where the strong devour the weak. "P-Please, I d-don't w-want to d-die again." The man whimpered cowardly.

"**Grrrrr****.**" One of the creatures roared powerfully, making the quivering man wince. The huge creature, whose body was being overshadowed, pointed his massive finger at the man. "**You**!" When it spoke, its voice was deep, monstrous, and held all the menace that not even a million creatures, (whose voices would come out together), could match. "**We want to devour Uzumaki Naruto! We need his strength and power**!"

"B-But I d-don't k-know a-anyone ca-…" The spirit man couldn't help but stutter his words in the face of overwhelming evil.

"**SHUT UP**!" The creature cut off the whimpering man with sheer venom and ferocity in his voice. "**We b****r****ought you here because you're ****a part**** of our plans. You're going to devour Kurosaki Ichigo and Kagoshima Ryosuke for their strength and power. With their power****s**** combined, Uzumaki Naruto should be easy enough to absorb****!**"

"K-Kurosaki…-" That was all the stammering man could let out before the shadowy creature severed his soul chain. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" The man could only scream as his whole body underwent a transformation. The milky white substance engulfed his body.

"**Mwhahahaha**!" The malevolent creature laughed manically, "**I will soon have Uzumaki Naruto's strength! Don't worry Boboma****ru; we'll ****avenge you, hahahaha!"** The creature laughed just as the man, now fully transformed into a hollow, stood up.

His body was shaped like a ghost; he had a dark red tail curved at the end of his body. The top half of his body was a coal black colour, just like the others hollows. Most noticeable thing about the once-man-now-transformed into a hollow was the white bony mask covering his face, and glowing blood red eyes shining brightly.

"…**Orihime**." His voice was deep, and above all else, monstrous. Things aren't looking good for Inoue Orihime.

XxX

(Naruto's inner world)

XxX

Naruto was training hard with Yasuhiro. He learned a couple of new moves, his speed increased slightly, his strength and striking power also slightly improved over the course he'd spent within his inner world training with Yasuhiro.

Sparks could be seen bouncing away from two swords! Naruto and Yasuhiro's training session was not finished yet! Naruto flipped high into the air, bringing his massive oversized katana above his head.

"Aaaaaah!" Naruto let out a war cry as he brought his Zanpakuto down on Yasuhiro, intending to cut into his shoulder.

"Not good enough Naruto." Yasuhiro stated.

Yasuhiro rolled to the side casually, easily dodging Naruto's strike, leaving the blond haired boy to grunt in frustration. "You've got to do better than that Naruto!" Yasuhiro swung his sword at Naruto's chest, intending to cut him up like swish cheese.

Naruto, reacting quickly, does a backflip, successfully avoiding Yasuhiro's blow, "I know already!" Naruto shouted. "Take this!" Naruto began spinning his Zanpakuto around in a complete continuous 360 fashion. Naruto's Zanpakuto began to glow powerfully, being surrounded in a silvery coloured aura.

"**Kaminari Hatsubai: Subarashii totsunyuu****,**** iraira bakuhatsu ****(****Lightning release: G****reat penetration, raging blast****)**." Naruto called out as he thrusts his Zanpakuto forward and released a powerful, swirling silver coloured beam of energy from his Zanpakuto. A thin but extremely powerful blue beam of energy could be seen within the big spinning silver coloured beam!

Once the huge swirling silver beam was right under Yasuhiro, it surrounded his body, seemingly shocking him greatly, paralyzing him in definitely, allowing the thin blue coloured beam to easily penetrate his right arm, resulting in a huge explosion! So, clearly the thin blue beam was the real beam of devastation all along.

"YES!" Naruto cheered loudly as he covered his eyes from the smoke that occurred from his powerful lightning attack. "Yeah! I love lightning!"

"Don't let your guard down Naruto." Came Yasuhiro's smooth and calm voice from behind Naruto.

Naruto's eyes widened before he was smashed down to the ground by Yasuhiro.

Naruto could feel his face burning with unbelievable pain as he went skidding across the hard surface of the pyramid within his inner world.

"Damn it!" Naruto cursed, pounding his fist on the floor of the pyramid. "He dodged it!"

"I could've slit your throat if I'd wanted to, Naruto…" Yasuhiro stated, resting the edge of his sword on his shoulder, looking relaxed, "Be more careful kid!"

"Yeah, yeah whatever." Naruto responded. "Watch me old-man! I'm just getting warmed up!"

Yasuhiro smirked, "Is that so?" Yasuhiro stretched out his arms to the left and right sides of himself, "Aaaaaaah!" With a fierce cry, Yasuhiro flared up his aura, sparks of electricity were radiating around Yasuhiro's powerful blue aura. "Let's do this kid." The tiger man stated.

Naruto smirked, relishing taking on the tiger man living within his mindscape at his best. "Let's do this old man!"

"Don't get cocky, Naruto." Yasuhiro commented. Yasuhiro got into a stance. "Cockiness can be your greatest downhill."

"Thanks for the advice, old man." Naruto responded. Naruto gets into a stance. "I'm going to give it all I got!"

"That's the spirit Naruto!" Yasuhiro exclaimed. "As long as you keep that spirit, that drive and determination that burns deep within the pit of your soul, you'll always have my power!"

Naruto shot Yasuhiro a fox grin before speeding towards him at such pace; he left the dust in the wake of his speed. Yasuhiro smirked as he rushed off to meet Naruto head on in a power struggle. The real training was only just beginning!

XxX

(Orihime's apartment)

XxX

The sun had begun to set; leaving the sky as orange as Ichigo's hair.

Tatsuki was starting to ease up a little bit around Ryosuke. The boy didn't really seem like a pervert. The only thing that bothered Tatsuki was the fact Ryosuke had stopped her kick with his palm… Effortlessly! It didn't make much sense to Tatsuki, the girl had beaten men twice Ryosuke's size (which says something because Ryosuke wasn't short by any means) without so much of even breaking a sweat. So, how was it that Ryosuke was so much stronger than her? When considering the fact Ryosuke was only in middle school!

Tatsuki had to find out…

"Ryosuke…" Tatsuki murmured, sitting beside Ryosuke while Orihime was in the kitchen. Ryosuke looked at Tatsuki with general curiosity written on his face. "How'd you manage to stop my attack earlier? I take it you've done some sort of martial arts before."

Ryosuke looked at the ceiling casually, "You bet." He let out a lackadaisical sigh shortly afterwards, "It's never enough. Not until I defeat Uzumaki…"

"Uzumaki?" Tatsuki regurgitated. "Is that your school friend?"

"No." Ryosuke responded immediately, "We're rivals! There's a different, ya' know."

Tatsuki, deadpanned: "It seems the same to me."

"Whatever." Ryosuke replied.

The two remained in an awkward silence, not quite sure how to break it. Luckily, Orihime broke it when she came venturing into the living room carrying two bowls of what looked like some sort of red mud mixed with purple meatballs in said red mud.

Tatsuki found herself almost throwing up; the odour of the food was unbearable; her nose simply couldn't stomach it. "Orihime-chan!" Tatsuki alerted. "Throw that thing away before you kill us! Right, Ryosuke?"

"What's wrong with it?" Orihime asked with an innocent expression written on her face.

"Nothing…" Ryosuke answered nonchalantly, making Tatsuki stare wide-eyed at him. Did he really just say there was nothing wrong with the way that food looked? "Let's have a taste." Tatsuki's jaw was hitting the floor when Ryosuke suggested this.

"Oh goody!" Orihime cheered, placing a bowl in front of Ryosuke. "I'm glad someone likes it!"

"You're not seriously going to eat that stuff, are you?" Tatsuki whispered in Ryosuke's ear, so Orihime wouldn't hear her.

Ryosuke decided to let his actions do the talking. He picked up the spoon placed it by the bowl, and dipped it into the bowl of purple meatballs and red mud. Without saying anything else, Ryosuke placed the spoon in his mouth and began chewing on the weird-looking food made by Orihime. Tatsuki gulped, expecting Ryosuke to throw up at any given minute now. Orihime on the other hand, eagerly held her hands together, looking at Ryosuke expectedly.

After a moment silence which was broken by the sound of Ryosuke swallowing the food down his throat, Ryosuke simply put it straight. "It's not bad."

"Aaaah!" A gasp escaped Tatsuki's mouth as she almost fell over from shock! Now she must be hearing things! How can anyone in the right mind like Orihime's cooking! 'This kid's insane!' Tatsuki concluded in her mind as a bead of sweat ran down her cheek.

"Oh great!" Orihime yelled bubbly, "I thought I was a weirdo or something with this food I eat."

"It looks a little funny, but it's really not that bad once you try it." Ryosuke responded honestly. Tatsuki stared at Ryosuke with her eyes as big as dinner plates, Ryosuke pretended not to notice.

"Then let's eat together!" Orihime happily exclaimed. Ryosuke smiled a little, happy to see such a bubbly, friendly girl being herself. Orihime eagerly sat down next to Ryosuke on her knees, looking excited that she finally had a friend that shared her taste buds, "Let's dig in!" Orihime grabbed the other plate of food she'd prepared spiritedly, and began eating it with puffed up cheeks. Ryosuke chuckled a little bit before he to mimicked Orihime by eating his own food.

'Has the world gone crazy or something?' Tatsuki thought, staring wide eyed at the two eating machines that were Ryosuke and Orihime.

XxX

(Kurosaki clinic - Ichigo's room)

XxX

"Ahhhh." Ichigo sighed audibly as he threw himself onto his bed. Ichigo had a long day; Rukia practically drove him into the ground! First that annoying "soul pager", as Rukia called it, goes off, so Rukia dragged him off to the area of the hollow attack, just to run into four hollows at once! Ichigo managed to slice and dice them up like onions just before the soul pager went off again, and Rukia had to drag him off again. Only this time, five hollows appeared at once! Needless to say, they were still no match for Ichigo's strength, speed and reflexes; a couple of quick slashes here and there, and the hollows were cleansed. Afterwards, the soul pager went off several more times that day, to which forced Ichigo to cleanse twelve more hollows. Needless to say, he was now exhausted and was glad to be back in his physical body.

"Hrughh! I never want to see another hollow again!" Ichigo groaned languidly, beginning to think kami had it in for him, or maybe it was just Rukia. Ichigo turned his head to glare at the little woman. "Why are you putting me through this shit? Can't you get Goldie locks to do it!" Ichigo exclaimed, preferring to Naruto as "Goldie locks".

Rukia wasn't listening to him. The short woman was too busy staring intently at a gold bracelet on her wrist. The gold bracelet had the name "Susumu" engraved across it. "What could it mean?" Rukia murmured, looking at the bracelet on her wrist through her narrowed eyes. "Why would-."

"HEY! I'm talking to you!" Ichigo yelled, bringing Rukia abruptly out of her thoughts.

Rukia had a bored expression written all over her face due to Ichigo's attitude. "What is it… Ichigo?"

Before Ichigo had the chance to answer, the wall of his room exploded, forcing him and Rukia to cover their eyes from the smoke that occurred from the exploding wall!

"Another hollow?! Damn it! Give me a break!" Ichigo growled loudly, already guessing who'd busted into his room.

There was a loud primal roar from within the smoke. That made Rukia's eyes widen from shock and realization. She hadn't realized her soul pager went off a few moments ago, "Was I that distracted?" Rukia murmured. Rukia shook her head to shake off her stupor, "Ichigo!" Rukia yelled, gaining Ichigo's attention. Rukia put the red glove over her left hand and slammed her hand into Ichigo's forehead, releasing his soul form from his physical body.

"Damn it; give me a warning before you do that!" Ichigo commanded. Rukia shot him a teasing smirk just as the smoke swayed to the sides, revealing a ghostly-like hollow with a red tail, a black upper body, and black hair could also be seen falling to the hollow's shoulders, "You're going to pay for breaking my wall!"

"**Kurosaki**!" The hollow roared as it dashed towards Ichigo, determined to devour him and gain his strength. Ichigo's eyes widened a bit, he could slightly make out a familiar voice hidden underneath that monstrous one.

Ichigo shook his head; he'd more important things to worry about, like killing this hollow for a matter of fact. Ichigo gripped the hilt of his sword just as the hollow came driving in on him with a fierce head-butt. In one ultra-fast motion, Ichigo threw out his left arm, (sword unsheathed), a white shine could be seen before the hollow screamed in excruciating pain as a piece of the mask on his face fell off in slow motion-style.

Ichigo's eyes widened hugely, "WHAT?!" Ichigo recognized the face behind the mask immediately. He didn't know what to think. How could one of his friends, that'd died a long time ago, become a hollow? It didn't make any sense to Ichigo!

"Ichigo!" Rukia yelled, noticing Ichigo hesitating to do his job. "Destroy him already!"

Ichigo was frozen in place with his mouth slightly open and nothing but air coming out. The hollow's mask slowly repaired itself, and the hollow himself jumped out of the destroyed wall and ran off fast!

"Ichigo!" Rukia yelled.

"What was that?" Ichigo shouted demandingly, making Rukia gasp from the sheer ferocity in Ichigo's voice. "That was someone I knew! It was Orihime's onii-chan (older brother)! What the hell is going on?!"

"Ichigo, a human spirit becomes a hollow if they're not sent to the Soul Society via a shinigami!" Rukia explained. "That's why it's important for a shinigami to help souls pass on to the Soul Society. Otherwise, spirits that stay in the world of the living longer then they should, lose their hearts. And when that happens, they become hollows." She said in a grim tone as Ichigo quivered a little. "Furthermore: they'll seek out the ones they loved the most when they were alive and devour them to fill the emptiness within themselves."

"What?!" Ichigo yelled. "Who do you think he's going for now?!"

"…His little sister." Rukia murmured.

Ichigo's eyes widened: "Damn it!"

XxX

(Seconds Later)

XxX

The sun had completely set. The full moon was shining brightly on the streets of Karakura town.

Ichigo had picked up Rukia and placed her on his back. Now he was dashing from rooftop to rooftop as fast as he could in order to save Orihime from being devoured by her own brother! Rukia seemed absolutely positive that the hollow known as Orihime's nii-san (big brother) would be heading to her place right now in order to fill the emptiness within himself.

Ichigo could feel the anxiety well up inside of him as the wind blew into his face due to the speed of which he was travelling at. He was determined to save Orihime. He was focused on bringing her brother back to his senses, and with each leap Ichigo took hastily, he knew he was getting closer to achieving just that.

XxX

(Orihime's apartment)

XxX

All seemed to be pretty peaceful at the home of Inoue Orihime. Tatsuki had just started to somehow get sort of comfortable with Ryosuke being around Orihime. After all, the boy wasn't trying to check her out like most guys would do, and those guys would usually get their asses handed to them by Tatsuki. Tatsuki was thankful Ryosuke wasn't like that, as much as it pained Tatsuki to admit, she was no match for Ryosuke. She was outclassed by Ryosuke, a kid whom was three years younger than her! Ryosuke did admit he'd done some form of martial arts as a young boy, so he could stay in shape and defend himself from the thugs around town.

Orihime had already starting warming up to Ryosuke; she'd even gotten friendly enough to add the "kun" suffix to Ryosuke's last name.

"I'm going to the toilet." Ryosuke coolly began, standing up from his spot on the floor, "Then I'll be off. I don't want my kaa-chan to nag at me." (Kaa-chan=mom). Ryosuke placed his hands in his pockets, and walked off to the bathroom with a swagger in his step.

"That boy," Tatsuki smiled softly, something about Ryosuke seemed to remind her about a certain person she knew all too well. "He reminds me of Ichigo-kun."

Orihime's face reddened at the mention of Ichigo. "You think so?" Orihime suddenly felt a little uncomfortable. "I never noticed before."

"Oh." A teasing smirk grew on Tatsuki's lips, "I guess it's just a coincidence then."

"Probably so," Orihime murmured timidly, the shade of red darkening on her face.

XxX

(Bathroom)

XxX

A splashing sound could be heard coming from the direction of the toilet as Ryosuke flushed it.

"I guess today wasn't too bad." Ryosuke stated to himself, running the warm water from the tap over his hands after covering them with the soap that smelled minty fresh.

Ryosuke sighed as he gazed at the mirror on the wall mindfully, "Uzumaki." He growled softly as he began to imagine Naruto's laughing face in the mirror. "I swear, I won't give up, not until I've defeated you Uzumaki…-"

*KA-BOOM!*

An explosion echoed throughout the small apartment owned by Orihime. Ryosuke momentarily shuddered before he instinctively ran out the bathroom, hands still wet. His eyes began to widen seeing bits of rubble of the wall scattered all over the floor, and staring at the hollow responsible for the damage.

Ryosuke's eyes immediately narrowed seeing a frightened Orihime in the big hollow's hand, and a busted up Tatsuki lying unconscious on the floor; poor girl didn't even stand a chance. The hollow licked his lips as he slowly began to bring Orihime towards his mouth, intending to swallow her whole. Orihime quivered and let out a terrified scream as she shut her eyes, hoping this was all just a nightmare and she could reopen her eyes to be with her two friends.

Orihime felt lightheaded for five seconds. She could feel someone's arm over her side. Then she felt as if she'd just been dropped to the floor. Was she alive? Was the hollow just toying with her?

"**Don't get in my way****,**** boy**!" The hollow's loud monstrous voice made Orihime snap her eyes open.

"K-Kagoshima-kun." Orihime stammered, surprised and relieved to see Ryosuke had saved her twice within one day. But one thing still stuck out, "How'd you change your clothes so fast Kagoshima-kun?" Orihime noted Ryosuke's change of attire, from his school uniform to an all-black shihakusho held closed by a white sash tied around his waist.

"Huh?" Ryosuke wondered. 'Can she see me?' Ryosuke shrugged his shoulders, dropping the matter for the time being. Ryosuke unsheathed his Zanpakutos.

"Where'd you get the two swords from Kagoshima-kun? I didn't know you were a samurai." Orihime said bubbly, excited to see that Ryosuke could use two swords at once.

"WHAT!" That last comment from Orihime made Ryosuke turn towards her sharply, "You can see me!?" A major flabbergasted expression was written all over Ryosuke's face, but there was still more to come. "Arghhhhhh!" Ryosuke grunted, clenching his fists as hard as he could when he noticed Orihime's soul chain. "You monster…" Ryosuke said darkly over his shoulder at the hollow before them. Orihime remained oblivious. The malevolence around Ryosuke rose to dangerous levels as he stared at the hollow with a deathly look in his eyes, "You. Will. Pay."

"**That's right! Orhime's dead**!" The hollow roared triumphantly, "**Mwhahahahaha****!**"

*Snap*!

That did it for Ryosuke! As if that'd unleashed the bird trapped within a cage inside of Ryosuke's head which kept his insanity in check. The bird flew away from its prison which kept the boy from going lunatic. Now, oh now he was fully determined to utter annihilate this hollow for what he'd done to Orihime! A powerful swirling green aura mixed with light blue outlines swirled violently around Ryosuke's body, the look of pure intensity in Ryosuke's eyes made the hollow instantly stop his laughter, and curve his lips into a smirk sensing the delicious spiritual pressure he could absorb radiating off of the enraged boy!

Orihime watched, a mixture of fasciation and admiration filling her eyes.

Ryosuke dashed towards the hollow, Zanpakuto shining brightly as he ran at such speed he looked like he just blurred out of existence to the hollow and Orihime. The hollow's blood red eyes popped wide open, he could do nothing against this kind of speed apart from hear Ryosuke calling out the words…

"**Tsuin doragon no sutairu: Mōmoku sutoraiki (Twin dragon style:**** blinding strikes****)**!"

Many outrageously quick green and blue slashes later, everything seemed to go silence. Ryosuke was behind the hollow, Zanpakutos stretched out to the sides. The hollow didn't know what to think. He failed to even catch a glimpse of that insane barrage! Maybe Ryosuke hadn't done anything-?

"**Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!**" The after-effect of Ryosuke's barrage came back to haunt the hollow ten folds over as he was flung into the air by the power left over by Ryosuke's blows. Two dragon shaped scars appeared on the hollow's chest as the red blood flew out of his open chest.

Orihime's eyes slowly began to widen watching the hollow fly up into the air in slow motion-style, as if time itself had slowed down, allowing Orihime to take in Ryosuke's magnificent skill.

The hollow crashed into the ceiling, and then landed onto the ground with a light thud. A piece of the white mask on the hollow's face slowly broke off, allowing Orihime and Ryosuke to get a good glimpse at the hollow's face.

"S-Sora." Orihime's usual innocent face turned into a face full of horror, "W-What happened to you nii-chan?" She stammered.

"What?" Ryosuke wondered.

"**You did this to me**!" Sora screamed excruciatingly, "**You stopped praying to me! And started hanging out with that girl**!" He pointed angrily at Tatsuki. Ryosuke could tell this was the guy in the photo, the boy knew he'd have to cleanse Sora, allowing him to pass onto the Soul Society.

"No I didn't. I just wanted you-." Orihime tried to explain before being cut off.

"**STOP MAKING EXCUSES**!" Sora shouted devastatingly, making Orihime wince from the sheer venom of his hollow's voice. Sora when to attack Orihime, but was quickly pushed back when an orange blur suddenly appeared from out of nowhere. "**Kurosaki**…"

Ryosuke smirked arrogantly, "Hey Ginger, what took you so long, eh! I've practically whooped his ass all this time."

A vein popped out of Ichigo's forehead: "Damn it kid! Stop calling me that and what the hell are you doing here anyway?!"

"She brought me here, obviously," Ryosuke replied nonchalantly, pointing at Orihime. "Geez. You're slow on the uptake Ginger."

Ichigo gritted his teeth. "That's it! I'm so going to kill you!"

"Bring it on then ginger." Ryosuke challenged with a smirk on his face.

Ichigo and Ryosuke got in each other's faces, sending daggers out of their eyes at one another. Rukia and Orihime felt beads of sweat run down the back of their heads.

"Ichigo, Ryosuke, stop fooling around!" Rukia yelled harshly at the two glaring boys.

"**Grrrrrrr**!" Sora roared loudly, making both Ryosuke and Ichigo stop their bickering. "Orihime's mine! I won't let you take her away from me!" Orihime shuddered as Sora stated this.

"You bastard! I'll send you to hell if you come anywhere near her!" Ryosuke growled and Orihime felt a little safer from the determination Ryosuke was emitting.

"WHAT!" Ichigo shouted. "That's Orihime's brother! You can't kill him!"

"Shut up, ya bitch!" Ryosuke snapped. "Take a look at Orihime. That thing has already ripped her soul right out of her body!"

It was only then did Ichigo actually notice the chain sticking out of Orihime's chest. His eyes widened seeing the chain connected to Orihime's chest with Orihime herself looking at Ichigo curiously.

"O-Orihime…" Ichigo stammered. Was Orihime dead? Did her own brother kill her? Ichigo felt an overwhelming amount of guilt wash over him. He failed to protect his friend! "No…" He murmured.

Ryosuke rolled his eyes, "She's not dead, ya idiot." Ryosuke stated and Ichigo looked at Ryosuke with confusion written on his face. Ryosuke sighed, "As long as her soul chain doesn't get severed, she'll live."

"WHAT!?" Ichigo yelled and turned his head towards Rukia. "Why didn't you tell me this!"

"You never asked." Rukia replied nonchalantly.

Ichigo grunted angrily, "Well, as long as she's safe. That's all that matters." Ichigo exclaimed sincerely, returning to his calm demeanour.

"**Grrrrr! She****'s dead! And I will eat her now,****b****ecause she's mine**!" Sora roared as he dashed straight towards Orihime with his eyes shining brightly and stomach rumbling with the overwhelming urge to eat Orihime. This time it was Ryosuke who knocked Sora back by extending his arm upwards, slashing Sora deep across his chest, creating a long gash between the two dragon-scars on Sora's chest, "**Gwahhh! Stop getting involved! This has nothing to do with you**!"

"It does when you're trying to kill your own sister." Ryosuke grimaced. "Seriously, where's your honour; big brothers are meant to protect their little sisters!"

"**You don't understand**!" Sora whined. Wow… a hollow whining in a deep sickening monstrous voice. Now that's just sad.

"Try us." Ichigo answered for Ryosuke, narrowing his eyes as he spoke this.

"I've protected Orihime ever since we were kids!" Sora exclaimed, making Orihime gasp, "**Our mother was a prostitute and our father was a drunk! They always beat us, treated us like dirt every day****!**" – Sora's voice held sadness and pain in it. "**When I turned eighteen I ran away with Orihime, who was only three at the time**."

"Well, that'd mean you've done a good job then!" Ichigo groused, making Sora's eyes widen a little bit. "You should be happy, happy Orihime's happy! Not trying to kill her! What kind of (Big brother) nii-san are you?" Ichigo furiously asked and Ryosuke nodded in agreement with Ichigo.

"**You don't understand!"** Sora shouted back.** "She doesn't pray for me anymore because you people took her away from me! First that woman**," he angrily pointed at the unconscious form of Tatsuki. Ichigo's eyes widened as he ran over to his long-time friend. "**Then ****you…****KUROSAKI ICHIGO! You came next, and further Orihime went away from me. Then lastly, you**-," – Sora seethed. "**You… ****Kagoshima Ryosuke! I was going to save my sister****'s life before you sn****ooped in there and saved her****!**"

Ryosuke rested his green hilted ninjato on his left shoulder, and replied calmly, "I see." Ryosuke then shut his eyes before reopening them with an even fiercer look in them. "But that still doesn't give you the right to try and kill her! You're her brother, big brothers are meant to protect their siblings!" Ryosuke shouted. "I may hate my kaa-san sometimes, but at the end of the day she's just that: my kaa-san! I wouldn't kill her no matter how much we argue with each other!"

"That's right!" Ichigo agreed with a fierce nod. "Big brothers come first to look out for their younger sisters! We're meant to protect them with our lives! So when our lives are over we can hold our heads up high and know we've done a good job protecting them!" Ichigo righteously stated.

Rukia's eyes could only widen as she watched the two speak with their minds as well as their hearts. "Ichigo, Ryosuke-san," Rukia whispered, staring at the two like she was only just seeing them for the first time. Rukia gazed sadly at the bracelet on her wrist before placing her hands on her chest.

"**B-But y-you d-don't u-understand**." Sora stammered, the words were starting to get through to him, Ichigo and Ryosuke could feel it. "**I d-did everything for her, an-.**" Sora trailed off.

"It was my fault." Orihime murmured, but her words were heard as clear as if she'd shouted them. Orihime wobbled to her feet dazedly, Ryosuke stood protectively in front of her, but she wiggled her way past him and strolled over to her brother. "It's my fault why you're like this Sora-kun. Because I pleaded with you not to leave me."

Sora's hollow eyes widened as a sad flashback ran through his already corrupted mind. Reminding him of his death, seeing the paramedics take away his body while his sister, Orihime, begged him not to leave her all alone.

Orihime gently placed her hands on Sora's mask, ignoring Rukia telling her to stay away; she sadly looked into Sora's now blood red eyes, "I could feel you nearby Sora-kun. I sensed how unhappy you were watching over me. I thought if I prayed for you less that you'd pass on and find peace," Orihime's voice held guilt in it.

"**Orihime**…" Sora whimpered before his primal hollow instincts began taking over again. "Grrrrrrrrrr!" Sora raised both of his arms in the air and roared ferociously, making Orihime shudder as Sora lunged in on her, "**I will devour you**!"

"Orihime!" Ichigo shouted worriedly as he prepared to run over and protect Orihime.

*Slash!*

Before Ichigo could move, Ryosuke sent an air attack from the tip of his green hilted ninjato that connected straight into Sora's mask. Everything went dead silent; the only thing that could be made out was the sound of Ryosuke calmly sheathing his green hilted ninjato.

Sora's mask slowly shattered into a million pieces, freely allowing Sora to gain control over his own actions. His eyes returned to its usual dark brown color.

"What?" Ichigo wondered.

"S-Sora-kun." Orihime whimpered.

"I'm sorry Orihime." Sora began, his voice no longer deep and monstrous but kind and gentle. "The hollows got me. They told me I'd to devour Ichigo and Ryosuke. All so they could gain the strength they'd need to absorb a powerful called Naruto-san." Sora explained.

"WHAT!" Shocked Ichigo. "Why would they be after Naruto for?"

"I expected as much." Rukia started intellectually, "They wanted Naruto's power, but they knew they weren't strong enough to get his power. So they decided to focus their attention on you two, hoping by sending someone you knew after you, Ichigo. It'd make you hesitate to cleanse him, and in fact you did hesitate."

"Those bastards!" Ichigo muttered, clenching his fists tight.

"It was thanks to you two that I was able to regain control over myself, through your determination I could feel myself regaining control." Sora explained, smiling softly. Ryosuke and Ichigo just shrugged their shoulders, not wanting to take any glory. "I'm sorry Orihime. The day I died you were upset with me because you didn't like the hairpins I bought you."

"No, I'm sorry Sora-kun. It was just because I was young and I thought hairpins would make me look immature." Orihime admitted dejectedly. "I wear these hairpins everyday as a reminder of how much I love and appreciate everything you've done for me."

"Orihime." Sora spoke softly, staring at his sister in awe.

"I'm sorry Sora-kun. I'm sorry that I never said have a nice day when you left for work." Orihime said, the look on her face showed she truly regretted never saying "have a nice day" to her beloved nii-chan.

"Imouto." Sora whispered. Sora smiled as he finally felt at peace with himself, all that was left to do was for him to pass on. "Ryosuke." Sora murmured.

Ryosuke nodded, already understanding what he'd to do, and that was to send Sora to the other side, allowing him to find peace and happiness. Ryosuke gripped his blue hilted Zanpakuto, and slowly strolled over to Sora.

"Wait, you're not going to kill him." Ichigo commented, he never liked to see his friends die in front of him. "There has to be another way!"

"Ichigo." Rukia began as Ryosuke continued his stride towards Sora. "A Shinigami cleanses a hollow, thereby allowing it to pass onto the Soul Society. He'll be able to find peace once Ryosuke cleanses him."

"What!" A shocked expression was written all over Ichigo's face. He never realized he was actually helping hollows find their way to the Soul Society. Ichigo glanced at Sora, who smiled and nodded at him to confirm Rukia's claim. Ichigo smiled, feeling at peace with himself knowing he hadn't killed anyone. "Do your job kid." Ichigo said to Ryosuke.

Ryosuke didn't response; he only narrowed his eyes at Sora before drawing his Zanpakuto back, preparing for a strike that'd cleanse Sora. "You ready?" Ryosuke double checked.

"Y-Yes, hurry. I d-don't h-have much time." Sora commented, feeling his hollow mask beginning to form on his face again. "Before you cleanse me, may I ask a favour of you?" He contradicted himself.

But Ryosuke allowed it. It must've been something important. "Sure." Ryosuke agreed. It was the least he could do for a deal guy.

"You saved my sister's life today. And you protected her from me. You got stronger through your desire to protect my sister." Sora stated. Ryosuke shrugged his shoulders, pretending like he didn't know what he was talking about. "Please, take care of my sister."

"Yeah, I'll look after her. That's a promise." – Ryosuke declared, smiling before giving Sora a serious look.

Ryosuke stabbed his Zanpakuto through Sora's chest. Sora smiled as he began to disappear into tiny white spirit particles.

"Have a nice day Sora-kun… Have a nice day." Orihime whispered. She wasn't going to miss the chance to say the words she should have said to her dear nii-chan the day he left for work. "Have a nice day…" – she regurgitated the same words with more softness to them just as Sora completely disappeared.

XxX

Naruto's Inner world

XxX

Naruto was just finishing up his training for the day with Yasuhiro. The blond felt his overall strength, speed and reflexes go up a notch from this brutal training session. He certainly wouldn't mind skipping school again. Honestly, Naruto believed it was worth any nagging his grandma and dear Karin-chan could dish out at him.

After Naruto and Yasuhiro clashed violently in the centre of the pyramid, Yasuhiro called a halt to the training session. "That's enough for today. We'll continue your training tomorrow, Naruto-san. You should be proud of yourself Naruto, not many shinigami have the growth you have; you're truly a prodigy."

"Thanks old man." Naruto grinned. "Well I'm off. I haven't been to school today, and I'm sure my grandma will be pretty mad at me considering how late it is." Naruto chuckled uneasily.

"Good luck Naruto-san." Yasuhiro commented.

Naruto nodded and flashed Yasuhiro the "peace sign" before vanishing out of his inner world, returning to the outside world.

Yasuhiro felt tense. He looked up towards the sky, "Why didn't you disturb us." He seemingly said to no one. Yasuhiro concentrated his senses, and ended up relaxing just a bit when he heard the faintest of snoring sounds seemingly coming from out of nowhere. "Sleeping dormant…" Yasuhiro breathe a sigh of relief. "You must get stronger, Naruto. Otherwise, he could take over, and you won't want that to happen." Yasuhiro could sense an all evil energy coming from the creature within Naruto. It was a hollow, yet his energy felt so devilish, and so overwhelming it was almost unbearable. "Hurry and get stronger Naruto. If he ever gains control over your body, it could mean the end of the world…" Yasuhiro finished grimly.


	8. A Sinister Plan in the Making

**Power scheme - This is how the power levels will be set out for this story.**

**Low E Rank - unseated officers**

**High E Rank - seated officers**

**Low D Rank - Seated officers Shikai achieved (5th seaters and below)**

**High D Rank - fourth seated officers Shikai achieved. Ryosuke and Ichigo.**

**Low C Rank - Third seated officers without Bankai**

**High C Rank - Third seated offiecers Bankai achieved**

**Low B Rank - Lieutenants without Bankai.**

**High B Rank - Lieutenants Bankai achieved**

**Low A Rank - Captains. Naruto 30% or 40% (head-cloth on) the rest of the captains.**

**High A Rank - Stronger Captains. Naruto 100% (head-cloth off), Kenpachi, Kisuke, Soi Fon, Yoruichi, Byakuya and Unohana**

**S Rank level - Ascended Aizen**

**Bankai Yamamoto**

**K?**

**That's the way it's going to be for now. Of course Naruto, Ichigo and Ryosuke will advance up the rank as they continue to get stronger.**

**Chapter 8**

**A sinister plot in the making!**

* * *

Naruto had returned home later that day, only to be greeted by a furious Tomoyo! The grey haired lady was not in the least pleased with her grandson's decision to skip school, and neither were Karin nor Yuzu. All three proceeded to nag Naruto into a corner; maybe it'd be best if Naruto just attended school from now on, for the sake of his ear drums no less. The blond certainly wouldn't want to be nagged again. Tomoyo, as punishment for Naruto skipping school, escorted Naruto to school for the past two weeks straight! Such a thing didn't help Naruto's popularity, not that the blond cared about that stuff anyway, he was more interested in mastering his Raijin mode.

Within the two weeks' time-span, Naruto had grown a little stronger, mainly due to the fact if he wasn't in school, he was either in his inner world training with Yasuhiro or out purifying the wandering hollows around Karakura town. Oddly enough Naruto hadn't come across any really bad hollows. Every-time he slashed a hollow across its face the hollow would immediately pass on to the Soul Society. An idea popped into Naruto's head; if a hollow had committed such devious and sinister crimes, would they still be able to pass onto the Soul Society? Little did Naruto know, he'd get his answer soon enough.

Ryosuke returned home after saving Orihime twice within the one day, only to be "scolded" by his mother, Michiko. Or at least she tried to scold him. Ryosuke merely told her to shut up and stay out his life before marching off towards his room. Ryosuke hadn't told Naruto about Orihime, knowing full well the blond probably wouldn't believe him anyway. So, he kept her to himself and usually paid Orihime a visit from time to time. Orihime was delighted when Ryosuke came to visit her, she'd not even realized how lonely she was before Ryosuke began seeing her. Of course Ryosuke was more interested in training then visiting Orihime; the boy was determined to surpass his rival, Naruto. What really frustrated Ryosuke was the fact that Rukia had told him, a day after he'd saved Orihime, that he'd "Lieutenant" class spiritual pressure.

Ryosuke might have been happy about this, if not for the fact he'd already gotten weaker! His spiritual pressure went from Lieutenant Class (Which according to Rukia was the second highest rank in all of the Soul Society) to fourth seat! How could his spiritual pressure just drop two classes like that? Especially considering the fact Naruto's spiritual pressure was Captain Level! The highest rank within the Soul Society! Rukia even had a hunch that Naruto's spiritual pressure maybe on a High A-rank level! (Kenpachi) A high A-rank was only obtained by the best and most special captains! This only irritated Ryosuke to the maximum!

How can Naruto have such high amounts of reiatsu pumping through him? Ryosuke didn't know. All he knew was that he'd to catch up to the blond one way or the other. And within the two weeks' time-span Ryosuke had set another goal for himself; to reach the High A-rank captain level. He'd let nothing stop him from obtaining that power…

Ichigo only attended school with Rukia. The orange haired man made no actual attempts to better his fighting skills. As long as he'd his instincts to use in battle with the hollows, then he was sure that he'd be alright. Ichigo doesn't know how wrong he was, and would soon understand what it means to be a true shinigami.

XxX

(Present day - Two weeks later)

XxX

The sun was shining brightly on the streets of Karakura town. The sky was a clear baby blue color; the birds were chirping in the distance and flying over the city-like-town that was Karakura town. The streets were jam packed with onrushing adults hurrying to work. But not a single kid in school uniform could be seen anywhere between the tall grown-ups heading to work. This was because the schools of Karakura town were closed for the day.

A tremendous scream filled with joy echoed throughout the home of Tomoyo and Naruto. The blonde's face was beaming! He was free to do whatever he wanted.

"Woo-hoo!" Naruto cheered with the exuberance evident in his voice. "Yeah, no school today," Naruto was relishing all the things he could within the day. Spend time with Yuzu and Karin, play video games at the Arcade, fight with Ryosuke… "I'm going to do it all!"

An exasperated sigh came from the direction of Naruto's door, making Naruto swiftly turn his head to the side just as the door to his bedroom came forward revealing his grandma Tomoyo wearing her work uniform.

"Naruto-chan." Tomoyo began in a tired tone, clearly showing she didn't want to go to work. "Would you please keep it down dear?"

Naruto looked at his grandma sheepishly, "I'm sorry grandma," Naruto apologized. "I'm just so excited about having a day-off from school!" Naruto grinned widely, "I'm going to pig out at Wataru's ramen shop with Yuzu-chan and Karin-chan!"

Tomoyo allowed a smile to form on her lips. Naruto's cheerful attitude could always lighten her spirits, even when she'd to go to work. "Okay, Naruto-kun, try not to get in any trouble today, if you can?" she looked at Naruto as if she'd said "you know what I'm talking about", making Naruto grin widen. Over the two weeks both Naruto and Ryosuke have been making a name for themselves as the "demon-boys" because they've been laying out grown-men like they were nothing

Naruto's grin immediately faded off of his face when Tomoyo glared at him. "Y-Yeah, I'll be good," he stammered, tugging on the corner of his white vest.

Tomoyo smiled light-heartedly, "Good," Tomoyo turned towards the door. "Make sure to say hello to Yuzu-chan and Karin-chan for me, Naruto-kun," She said over her shoulder, making Naruto nod before Tomoyo left Naruto's room and hurried out of her home in order to make it to work on time.

A huge smile grew across Naruto's face, marvelling the fact he was free to do whatever he wanted to do, " It's time to get washed and dressed; as soon as I'm ready I'll go pick up Karin-chan and Yuzu-chan."

Naruto basically spring-boarded himself off of his bed; landing with a heavy thud near the door of his wardrobe. "Let's see," Naruto pondered as he opened up his wardrobe. "What to wear," The blond scanned through the selection of hung-up clothes neatly ironed by his grandma.

Naruto's hand stopped on a personal favourite of his. "Ahhhhh," Nostalgia filled Naruto's voice as he glanced at the outfit his left hand was on. "I can remember the day I met the man who gave me this outfit."

XxX

(_Flashback - Six years ago_)

XxX

_An orange colour suddenly casted over the skies of Karakura town, the sun was slowly setting and people were just beginning to close shop for the day and return home to their love ones._

_Naruto, who was only six years old at the time, was striding home with his grandma, Tomoyo. The two had spent the day doing something what Naruto and most other boys his age dread, and that was… shopping! Naruto knew, and always knew how boring shopping with his grandma would be. First of all she'd him wait "patiently" on a stool while she tried on some clothes she won't even end up buying. And then thought it was a bright idea to ask him how she looked in them!_

_Naruto only soaked the whole time. When Tomoyo finally finished trying on all the clothes she didn't even purchase, she took Naruto to the grocery store and ended up ignoring him when the blond asked her to buy sugary sweets and mouth-watering chocolates. And instead purchased fruit and vegetables! Naruto could already feel his stomach turning inside out by the sight of the "monstrous greens" as he called it._

_"What's the matter Naruto-chan?" Tomoyo asked her grandson with a caring smile on her face. "You're still not upset because you didn't get what you wanted?"_

_Naruto crossed his little arms over his chest and huffed cutely, "Why do I have to eat vegetables for anyway?" Naruto asked with a frown upon his features, "It's not like they're going to make me any stronger!"_

_Tomoyo laughed whole heartedly, gently pattering Naruto on his head. "When you're big and strong Naruto, you'll come back and thank me one day."_

_"I'm not so sure Grammy," Naruto mumbled. "Besides, I'm already big and strong! I don't need "greens" to make me any stronger. I can beat anyone!"_

_"Overconfidence can be your downfall, Naruto." Tomoyo stated sagely. Naruto looked at her with confusion written on his face. Tomoyo sighed, "You'll soon understand what I mean when you get a little older. As of now-…" Tomoyo's words faded away when a man standing at a good 11ft tall dashed in front of them holding a knife near her face. "O-Oh my," Tomoyo stammered. The man was wearing all black, from the mask over his face, to the black jumpsuit and shoes on his feet. He was clearly a thief. Tomoyo was sure of that._

_"Shut up bitch, and give me your money," The man demanded, keeping the knife firmly in front of Tomoyo's face, making sure the woman wouldn't try to retaliate. "Just hand over the money, and I'll be on my way!"_

_Naruto felt a burning hatred fuel up inside of him. Who does this man think he was threating his precious grandma like this? "Hey jerk-face, leave my grandma alone!" Little Naruto shouted violently at the man, holding up his two fists, "Or I'll just have to bust your ass!"_

_"Little punk!" – The man stated, slightly amused as well as annoyed at the kid's attitude. "You must want to die!?"_

_"NO!" Tomoyo screamed, there was no way she was going to let her baby boy get hurt. She quickly wrapped her arm over Naruto, stopping the little boy from launching himself at the man. "Don't hurt my little boy! I'll give you all the money you want, just don't hurt him!"_

_"I am not afraid of him! People who use weapons are cowards to me!" Naruto exclaimed, showing no signs of fear despite the huge size difference between him and the man. "He's probably too frightened to fight me without that toy in his hand!"_

_A vein popped out of the man's cheek, "You little brat!" He ferociously shouted and saliva flew out of his mouth. "I was going to spare you, but now, I'm going to enjoy killing you! Little brats like you deserve to be put down!"_

_Tomoyo immediately stood protectively in front of her grandson, arms spread out to the sides, shielding him from the man. The man's arm threw out to the side in a bid to knock the woman away._

_However, his arm didn't connect with Tomoyo. Almost as if his arm was frozen half way between Tomoyo and thin air._

_"What the hell?" The man struggled to free his arm against the vice lock grip someone was supplying to him. The masked thief spun his head to the side. "Who are you?"_

_There, standing at the thief's side, holding his arm, was another man. This man had grey hair going around the side of his head with the top part of his head being completely bold. He'd an aged face complimented by the wrinkles; he looked to be in his late sixties. The man's eyes were silver coloured filled with all the wisdom he gained throughout his life. He was wearing a black Gi top complimented by a dark blue undershirt, marching black trousers to go with the black Gi top, a kanji symbol for "monkey" was printed on the back of the man's Gi top. And he also had on black sandals._

_A sense of relief washed over Tomoyo. She immediately recognized the man who'd just saved her and her precious grandson, "Sachihiro-san!"_

_The man now known as Sachihiro turned his head towards Tomoyo and smiled softly at her, "How are you my dear." He asked kindly of his long-time friend. "And who might this young boy be." He gestured towards Naruto while still keeping a firm grip on the man's arm._

_"What are you doing old man?" Naruto sounded shocked! He couldn't believe Sachihiro was acting so casual like the man he was holding wasn't any threat, none whatsoever to him. "That man's a bad man!"_

_"Haha!" the old man let out a whole heartened laugh. "Don't worry; years of experience will see I win this fight. You can count on that."_

_An angry tick mark appeared on the thief's head, "How dare you insult me!?" The man stretched his fist back and let fly at the old man, intending to stab him for insulting him and trying to play hero at his old age._

_Naruto was left amazed by what happened next. In a few slick movements, Sachihiro disarmed the man of his knife and instantly broke his hand by twisting it in an awkward position. There was a cackled scream filling the air before silent befell the three. The robber was lying unconscious on the surface of the floor after Sachihiro had driven his fist directly into his face._

_"Whoa." Naruto whispered, awe filling his voice. "…So strong."_

_Tomoyo smiled light heartedly at Sachihiro, "I see you haven't lost any of your strength, Sachihiro-kun."_

_Sachihiro sagely rubbed his grey goatee. "Ahhh, its sure takes a lot out of me though."_

_"Hey old man!" Naruto snapped out of his stupor to address a serious matter with Sachihiro, "Can you teach me how to fight like that?"_

_Tomoyo and Sachihiro looked a little surprise at Naruto, nevertheless Sachihiro responded, "And why would you, a little boy, want to learn how to fight?"_

_Naruto held a determined look in his eyes as he clenched his fists up, "Because I want to be able to protect myself and grandma next time a weakling like that attacks us. I can't always rely on a stranger to show up at the right time to protect us! I have to be strong enough to protect us both!"_

_"Naruto-chan." Tomoyo spoke softly; her little boy was already growing up so fast right before her very eyes. Pride filled Tomoyo's eyes as she glanced at Sachihiro, giving him a nod._

_Sachihiro understood perfectly well what the nod meant and gently pattered Naruto on his head. "Ok little man, from this day on I'll take you on as my apprentice. I hope you have high endurance because I won't be going easy on you."_

_A huge smile formed across Naruto's face. "Alright!" He cheered loudly, throwing his fist up in triumph. "I won't let you down old man. I have tons of endurance, whatever that means!"_

_Tomoyo and Sachihiro laughed light-heartedly at Naruto, they both knew that Naruto would become something truly great._

_XxX_

_(__End of flashback_)

XxX

Over those years Naruto trained with Sachihiro, he came to greatly respect the wise old man. Naruto grew so fondly of Sachihiro that he even emitted the "sama" to "ojii", thus calling Sachihiro, "Ojii-sama" (Respected grandpa).

Naruto looked at the gi suit dejectedly, "I miss Ojii-sama." Naruto murmured. Only three years ago his master just up and disappeared; vanished out of existence entirely! As if Naruto's master never even existed in the first place!

"What could've happened to him?" Naruto asked himself. How could the man, whom Naruto looked up to as his own grandpa, just vanish without a trance? He was by far the strongest, yet kindest man Naruto had ever known! It didn't add up to Naruto. He couldn't have gotten kidnapped because he was way too powerful and feared, to the point that no one would even attempt to challenge him. He certainly couldn't have turned to the "dark side" because he was way too nice for that.

Naruto's head began hurting. All this thinking was doing him no good but instead only causing him stress, "I guess Ojii-sama really did die." Naruto sadly finished, concluding death as the most likely assumption for his master's sudden disappearance.

Naruto's expression did a complete 360 turn as the fox grin formed across his lips, "Ojii-sama wouldn't want me to be depressed now." And Naruto knew that for a fact. After quickly having a shower, and brushed his teeth, the blond dressed himself in the replica of his master's Gi, in honour of his memory.

Naruto hurled himself down the stairs, acrobatically flipping onto his feet, stopping his momentum. The blond slipped on his sandals, shoved the metal keys to his grandma's house into his pocket, and jolted out of the front door. Naruto slammed the door shut and turned his gaze to the bright sun shining down on Karakura town.

"Today's going to be so awesome!"

XxX

(Michiko's house)

XxX

A groan of annoyance echoed throughout the home of Michiko, there always seemed to exasperated grunts coming from the direction of Michiko's house. Her son, Ryosuke, just could not lighten up. Even when the news that school was closed for the day spread out, and reached Ryosuke, the boy still would remain grumpy.

Ryosuke was already cleaned and dressed. He was wearing a black blazer jacket with gold buttons going down the middle of the jacket; matching black trousers and sandals on his feet.

Ryosuke pounded his head; he wasn't a morning person that was for sure, "Argh! What to do today?" Ryosuke asked himself, becoming increasingly frustrated by the minute as he realized he didn't have anything to do. He'd already eaten breakfast with Michiko, watched a couple of T.V shows, and read the newspaper. Well if one could call merely glancing at a newspaper "reading" that is.

"Screw it!" Ryosuke exclaimed, his anger reaching its boiling point. "I'm just going to go out and beat the shit out of the first adult who looks at me wrong!"

Ryosuke flinched slightly when Michiko suddenly strolled into his room. Ryosuke gave her an annoyed look for walking into his room without knocking. Michiko shot him a teasing smile in reply.

"What do you want already?" Ryosuke demanded, speaking far too rudely to his mother. Kids shouldn't be speaking to their mothers like that. Michiko only continued to smile even more at him; a smile of expectant. Ryosuke could feel multiple tick marks appearing all over his face. "Stop looking at me like that!"

"I know your secret, Ryosuke-kun." Michiko spoke slyly. Ryosuke blinked twice at her. "Don't act all confused. Ryosuke-kun," Was she just trying to frustrate Ryosuke? Or did she really know an all-so embarrassing secret of Ryosuke's.

Ryosuke was becoming fed up with this game… He narrowed his eyes at her, "Spit it out already!" Ryosuke hissed. "Woman!" – He quickly added. "I don't have time to play your childish games already!"

Michiko shook her head with a disappointed look on her face. Her son never did know how to have fun; unless he was at the Arcade with Naruto. "Okay, Ryosuke-kun," Michiko decided it was time to spill the beans. "I know about the woman you've been spending time with.".She finished, her smile turning into a knowing smirk.

"Sheesh. I don't know what you're talking about." Ryosuke responded. His mother couldn't know about Orihime? Could she? No! Of course not! She wasn't a mind reader! "Are we done?" Ryosuke mumbled uninterestedly, wanting to go about his business.

Michiko waggled her index finger chidingly, "Not the answer I was looking for, Ryosuke-kun. I don't know why you're being so shy for. If I were you I'd be happy about having a partner." Michiko gigged softly. "Especially one with… huge "assets", let's say."

This caused Ryosuke to shudder and unknowing to him a pink colour crept onto his face. "How'd you know?" He asked, trying to sound nonchalant but instead he forced his words out. Ryosuke straightened his composure; his mother didn't have any proof. She probably didn't even know her name. "You have no proof."

"Ryosuke-kun." Michiko started in a fake hurt tone. "How would Orihime feel that you're refusing to acknowledge her? You won't even introduce her to me."

Ryosuke flinched, the shade of pink darkening on his face, "H-How?" - He tried not to stammer but found it was an impossible task.

Michiko simply tapped her head and said, "I have my ways."

Ryosuke began to assess all the possible ways his mother could know about Orihime. The most likely assumption was that she must've sensed him with her the four times that he'd visited her after meeting her. But that'd mean his mom had somehow gained spiritual awareness, "How?"

"You really should learn to control your spirit energy when you're angry, Ryosuke-kun." Michiko exclaimed nonchalantly, making Ryosuke's eyes widen in realization; it was his angry rants that caused his mother to gain spirit powers. "I know you can control your powers very well, Ryosuke-kun." Michiko stated. "You surpass Naruto-san when it comes to controlling your spiritual pressure." She added proudly, "You just need to control your emotions better to tap into your powers."

Ryosuke decided he didn't need to be lectured by his mom. He stomped past her, shrugging off her arm when she tried to pull him back. "I don't need to be lectured by you! I can get strong on my own!"

"Ryosuke-kun!" Michiko started. "I'm just offering you some motherly advice! You'll listen if you ever hope to catch up to Naruto-san."

"Don't you dare mention that clown's name in this house!" Ryosuke yelled, making Michiko gasp from the tone of voice he used, "I do not need anyone's advice to surpass that clown Uzumaki!" A raging Ryosuke stormed straight out of the house in dire need to get some fresh air.

Michiko smiled, "That boy, I'm sure he'll be fine after seeing Orihime." Michiko could sense how happy Ryosuke appeared to be whenever he was around Orihime. To Michiko, Ryosuke just seemed well, relax and at peace… "I think Orihime will be good for him." Michiko finished.

XxX

(Kurosaki clinic)

XxX

It was an average day at the home of the Kurosaki's. Yuzu was pretty much dragged out of bed by her father, Isshin, who desperately wanted his daughter to make breakfast for him. If Isshin could prepare breakfast, he would. The fact remained he couldn't even make a simple meal for his family let alone make breakfast. The last time Isshin attempted to prepare a simple meal for his children he practically burned the house down! Yuzu made sure to make all the meals from that day on to avoid other incident like that occurring again.

Ichigo was still sleeping in his room, deciding on being lazy was the best option seeing as there was no school.

Karin was a strange one. The girl was mysteriously feeling unwell. According to Yuzu, Karin said she'd been getting weird vibes from somewhere around town; a malevolent voice hunting her, putting the poor girl's head in a world of pain.

Yuzu's anxiety increased when her sister told her this. Isshin reassured his daughters that it was probably just a nightmare Karin was suffering from. Perhaps Karin must've watched a horror film? That was Isshin's guess anyway.

Yuzu remained unsure.

"Yuzu-chan," Isshin sighed. He'd been on the second floor with Yuzu, desperately pleading with her that her sister Karin was only sick. When in reality Isshin just wanted to keep his precious daughters as far away as possible from the spiritual side of things, "Karin-chan will be fine. Trust me on that one."

"Daddy," Yuzu began to protest but trailed off when a knocking sound echoed throughout the house. A smile grew on Yuzu's face when she heard Naruto's voice filling the air, "It's Naruto-kun!"

Isshin was more than pleased Naruto had come. It meant that Yuzu could take her mind off of the matter involving Karin. Isshin leaned over the stairs and shouted, "The door is open Naruto-san!"

Yuzu's eyes would've popped out of her head hearing her father say he left the door open. However, before the shock could sink in the door practically flew open, and a bright flash of yellow literally blurred into existence next to Yuzu on the stairs, "I hope you and Karin are ready for fun Yuzu-chan!" Naruto accidentally budged into Isshin as he approached Yuzu.

Isshin screamed as he bounced off of Naruto, as if little Naruto was a grown-man rather than a little boy. Isshin's head collided with the wall and resulted in his head being busted open with blood spattering all over the wall as Isshin fall limb on the floor, "Y-You sure are strong, Naruto-san." Isshin dazedly commented, seeing floating stars appearing before his eyes.

Yuzu's jaw was slightly dropping off seeing her father, a grown man no less, hitting the wall like he was shot after Naruto, a school boy, had slammed into him by mistake, "Naruto-kun. You really should be more careful." Yuzu lightly berated Naruto-kun.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "My bad." He said before grabbing Yuzu's hands, making her blush from the sudden contact and closeness of her crush. "You, me and Karin-chan are going to have some fun today, Yuzu-chan! There's no school and I want to make the most of it!"

Yuzu shook her head a couple of times to shake off her stupor she fell into when Naruto held her hands, "But Naruto-kun, Karin-chan's not well." A worried look was written all over Naruto's face when Yuzu told him this.

"W-What!" Naruto panicked. "What's wrong with Karin-chan?"

Yuzu shook her head sadly, "I don't know. I'm worried Naruto-kun. Daddy just says she's feeling sick but I'm not so sure."

"I'll go check on her Yuzu-chan." Naruto spoke reassuringly, "I'm sure I can help her feel better. After all, it is my job to look after my two girls."

"Naruto…" Yuzu spoke softly, something about the way Naruto spoke felt so right to Yuzu. Even when Naruto had his trademark cheeky fox-grin plastered on his face, Yuzu actually was slightly intrigued by the possibility of sharing Naruto with Karin.

Naruto strolled into Karin's and Yuzu's shared room. "Karin-chan." The blond whispered. His eyes widened once he heard slight coughing noises coming from the direction of where Karin was resting.

"Is that you, Naruto?" asked Karin, coughing into her pillow afterwards, "What's up?" She said softly, her throat hurting too much to be any louder.

"Karin-chan." Naruto was shocked to see Karin in such a state, walking over to her; the blond could see her face burning red. "What happened to you Karin-chan? How'd you get so sick?"

Karin coughed violently into her pillow. Naruto quickly massaged her back and placed the back-side of his hand on her forehead. A sizzling sound filled the room as Naruto's hand immediately turned beat red and he ended up removing his hand from Karin's head.

"Whoa you're hot!" Naruto exclaimed as his hand was shooting stream from the hotness of Karin's forehead, "In more ways than one this time." He finished with a smirk on his lips.

Karin allowed a small smile to form onto her face, happy for once that Naruto was making remarks about her attractiveness, "Thanks Naruto," Karin spoke weakly, "I really needed that." Karin looked like she wanted to break into tears! This only had Naruto becoming worried and frightened for Karin's health.

"Karin-chan!" Naruto started. "We need to get you to a doctor! You need help, you're sick. Only the doctor can help you now." Naruto's words were coming out fast.

"No Naruto," Karin's murmured voice stopped Naruto in his tracks. "That's not why I'm unwell. I think someone's sending telepathic messages to me Naruto." Karin continued, a few tears forming up in her eyes, "I'm frightened Naruto. The voice feels so evil and so full of hatred. It keeps on repeating how it's going to destroy all of Karakura town and there's nothing anyone can do to stop it."

Naruto clenched his fists so tight he ended up breaking his skin. Whoever this psychic guy was, he didn't know who he was dealing with, sending his dear Karin-chan terrifying messages through her head. Naruto was sure of this. He knew Karin wasn't crazy; she had a serious temper at times, yes, but crazy, no!

Naruto grabbed hold of Karin's hand, "Karin-chan, I promise I'll find whoever's sending you these messages and wipe the playground with them! That's a promise!"

"Naruto." Karin responded softly, Naruto's determination lifting her spirits slightly. Karin smiled warmly at Naruto. "Thank you Naruto," With those words spoke, Karin put her faith in Naruto to find the person solely responsible for her feeling like this.

Naruto nodded with a determined look in his eyes. Despite not having any idea in the slightest to how he was going to track this man, or woman, or whatever, down! 'Maybe Shadow-Eyes will know a thing or two,' Naruto concluded in his mind, knowing his day-off would turn out to be a mission instead. 'That's a price I have to pay to keep my girls safe and sound.' Naruto wouldn't dare let anything happen to Yuzu or Karin.

Naruto casually strolled out of Karin's and Yuzu's room. Yuzu looked at Naruto expectantly.

"Don't worry Yuzu-chan. Karin-chan will be just fine. I'll see to that." Naruto assured, walking past Yuzu.

"Where are you going now Naruto-kun?" Yuzu asked. "What about fun-time?"

"Sorry Yuzu-dear, it'll have to wait." Naruto responded over his shoulder. "Duty calls," Those were the last words Naruto spoke before he fazed out, leaving Yuzu standing with a blank stare written all over her face.

"What's going on?" Yuzu wondered. "I sure hope Karin-chan will get better soon." Yuzu could only hope and pray Naruto could resolve whatever problem he'd rushed off to deal with quickly so they could all get back to hanging out together.

"Awww," Came the groans of pain from Isshin. "My head! I think I got brain damage." Isshin shakily lifted up his head off of the wall, blood leaking out of his wound like a running tap left on.

Yuzu sighed and walked over to deal with her wounded father.

XxX

(Elsewhere)

XxX

The sky itself was pitched black with tints of red coloured into it. The clouds were reeling backwards almost as if time itself was repeatedly spinning backwards. Splashes of water soaked the ground as the rain poured heavily down on the earth. Two people were walking through the rain. One was a tall, light-skinned woman; she'd long orange hair falling to her lower back. Her eyes were dark brown filled with all the love any boy could ask for. She was wearing a pink blouse, a long brown skirt that reached her ankles, which was complimented by matching sandals on her feet.

The lady was Kurosaki Masaki.

Masaki had just picked up her nine year old son from karate class. He was crying after being ferociously kicked in the face by his friend, Tatsuki. (Poor kid) Her precious baby boy instantly stopped his whining once his saw his mommy ready to pick him up and take him home. His mother was always the trick to calming him down.

He only reached his mother's knee, roughly. He'd the same color hair as his mom, orange. His eyes were also the same color as his mom's. Clearly most of his facial features were inherited off of his mom. He was wearing a yellow t shirt with red short sleeves and the number "one" in the middle of his shirt. He'd on dark grey trousers and red sandals on his feet.

This boy was Kurosaki Ichigo.

"Ichigo." Masaki started, looking down at her son with a caring smile on her face. "Why was you crying sweetie?"

Ichigo blushed, "Because Tatsuki-chan hit me too hard." He complained. "I didn't even want to fight a girl in the first place. You said not to hit girls so I didn't try and fight back. Really, it's true."

"Haha." Masaki laughed whole heartedly, her son could always make up the best excuses, "You know Tatsuki-chan would never set out to hurt you, Ichigo-chan." She spoke knowingly, "She may be tough on you but that's only because she really cares about you Ichigo-chan." – she finished advisedly.

A pink colour stained little Ichigo's cheeks, "I know." He turned his gaze away from his mother, hoping she wouldn't notice his blush. Too bad for Ichigo, she noticed the first moment he (Ichigo) mentioned her (Tatsuki's) name.

Masaki only smiled at her son. He was growing up so fast that before she knew it, he'd be getting married to Tatsuki and renaming her: "Kurosaki Tatsuki". That had a nice ring to it.

Masaki and Ichigo slowly continued to stride towards home. The moonlight glowed an omnibus red colour that sent chills up Ichigo's spine, but his mom was seemingly oblivious to this strange turn of events. Ichigo was beginning to get a weird feeling something bad was about to happen at any given moment now. The little boy could feel a malevolent presence somewhere in the air, and bloodlust filling and fuelling said malevolence subconsciously tighten his grip on his mother, 'What's this presence? I feel lik-." Ichigo trailed off at the sight of something startling.

What startled young Ichigo was a small girl with short black hair falling to her shoulders as she stood right next to the river current and looked like she was about to fall in. Ichigo knew he couldn't let that happen as he freed his hand from his mother's grasp, and speedily took off on a one-way ticket to hero-town. He wasn't about to let a little girl die on his watch. "I'll save you! Just try and hold still a little longer!" Ichigo assured in desperation as he pumped his little legs with as much as adrenaline as possible to reach the girl.

"Ichigo!" Masaki screamed.

Masaki's eyes widened as she seen a blue beam of energy heading on a one way collision course towards her son Ichigo. Masaki's eyes held a fierce look in them; she'd to protect her baby boy no matter what. And she would too, "I'm coming Ichigo!" Masaki roared. Masaki suddenly blurred out of existence like she wasn't even there.

Ichigo sharply turned his head over his shoulder after his mother screamed his name with urgently and desperation dipping into her voice. Ichigo could see why, as his eyes widened in fear glancing directly at a speeding blue-arrow-like beam of energy coming towards him at hyper-sonic speed! Ichigo didn't even get time to shout before the beam seemingly engulfed his entire little body.

***Boom!***

An explosion echoed throughout the night. The pour magnitude of the explosion made the debris dust arise around Ichigo.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!" – Ichigo yelled, feeling his head bang off of the unforgiving concrete floor. "What happened?" – Ichigo asked himself, beginning to fear the worst.

Ichigo soon got his answer when drops of liquid fell onto his head. Ichigo's eyes widened in realization, the drips of liquid were actually his mother's blood! Ichigo's heart was sinking as he crawled from underneath his mother's unconscious form.

"Ah." A gasp escaped Ichigo's lips seeing a nasty-looking wound on his mother's back. "Mommy, wake up! You can't be dead!" Ichigo wailed, tears flowing freely off of his eyes as he shook his mother as fiercely as he could, desperately trying to wake her up to no avail.

It was no used! Masaki's skin felt cold! Her complexion was pale! Her eyes were glazed over. And the blood was all over her prone form.

Masaki Kurosaki was dead!

"No." Ichigo whimpered. It was his fault his mother died. If he wasn't so careless and stupid then his mother would still be with him. How could he ever forgive himself? Ichigo slowly turned his head to where the little girl was. His eyes only become more downcast. The little girl wasn't even there; almost like she never even existed. "I'm an m-monster! I l-let m-my m-mommy d-die," Even the heavens themselves wailed for the poor boy whom had just lost his dear mother, "Mommmmmy!" Ichigo suddenly screamed towards the sky, unknowingly releasing some of his spiritual pressure. The blue energy surfaced around his entire body from the pain of losing his mother.

"That's right son, get angry!" Came a calm and smooth voice Ichigo had never heard before in his life. "Do not be afraid my son."

"W-Where are you?" Ichigo's eyes searched endlessly for the voice until they finally landed on a dark, overshadowed body, only his golden eyes could be made out through the darkness. Ichigo instinctively took a step back. "W-Who are you?"

"Do not be afraid my son." The voice assured in a frighteningly calm voice. Ichigo's eyes widened. How could this man be his father? He had a father! "I'm your father, Ichigo. In the sense that you're part of my tribe, you share my powers, Ichigo."

Ichigo didn't know what to think. He was already traumatized from witnessing his mother's death. Now this man was telling him that he was his father because he (Ichigo) had similar sort of powers to him. Whatever that meant.

The man took Ichigo's silence as a sign to continue. "Join me Ichigo," The voice offered. "And together we will destroy the people who took down your mother. Trust me; I will not let you down my son."

At the mention of his mother, Ichigo found his mind couldn't take the loss of his mommy, "Mommyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" Ichigo screamed. Ichigo placed both of his hands on his forehead and began shaking his head violently, hoping he could somehow wake himself up from this nightmare, pleading with Kami that his mommy was not dead and they were both at home enjoying life.

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Ichigo roared. He wasn't waking up! But that'd mean… No, he couldn't think like that. If he just kept on screaming he was bound to wake up, "Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

XxX

Ichigo began to feel his face being repeatedly slapped. His face curved in and out from the fierce assault on his cheeks.

Ichigo's eyes suddenly snapped open to be greeted by the sight of Rukia on top of him with her hand midway towards his face.

"Finally," Rukia started, climbing off of Ichigo. "What's wrong with you Ichigo? Why were you screaming like that for?"

Ichigo was still stuck in a trance-like state. The sweat slowly fell off the side of his face. Was that dream real? It felt so real to Ichigo. It brought all the horrible memories of his past to the surface. Who was that man? And how'd he know about his mother? Was he the one that killed his dear mother? So many questions popped up, and swirled around Ichigo's head like a speeding propeller. Honestly, Ichigo does not want to go into these questions, in fear that he'd sink into the darkness.

A soft hand tapped Ichigo on his face. "Ichigo," Rukia started, her voice soft. "I'm here for you if you need to talk. Don't think you're all alone."

Ichigo calmly removed Rukia's hand off of his cheek and merely replied, "I'm fine."

Rukia huffed before turning her attention to a notebook she'd in her hands. She looked like she was drawing something. This peak Ichigo's interest; he never realized Rukia could draw. Stealing a quick glance at the notebook Ichigo could instantly see why, her drawings were horrendous! It looked like she was drawing a squirrel in a black and red karate-style Gi, holding a big stick in its hand.

"What the hell are you drawing?" Ichigo demanded. "It looks like you're drawing some retarded squirrel who thinks it can fight!"

Rukia jumped up, having been caught off guard by Ichigo, "S-Shut up." Rukia commented after regaining her composure. Her cheeks were stained red with a embarrass blush. "And his name is Susumu: Susumu the legendary warrior of the Soul Society."

"I see," Ichigo nodded his head patronizingly, "So you're in love with some imaginary guy named Susumu!"

A vein popped out of Rukia's forehead, "Idiot!" She screamed as she simultaneously punched Ichigo's head, making him wince, "He's my long lost brother!"

Ichigo rubbed the lump that appeared on his head, "Hrughhh, how was I supposed to know, damn it!"

Rukia crossed her arms over her chest. "Then you shouldn't be making assumptions Ichigo," She hissed.

"Whatever." Ichigo responded. "So what happened to him then?" He asked upon calming down. "You did say he was your long lost brother."

Rukia's eyes became downcast. "Yeah." she sadly says, "I don't know what happened to him," she shook her head. "All I know is that he was one of the most feared and respected men in all of the Soul Society."

"That doesn't make sense!" Ichigo assessed. "If your brother was so strong and powerful then how could he suddenly up and disappear like that!"

Rukia only shook her head again, "I have no idea. None whatsoever! I don't even know his first name." Rukia commented. "I know he exists," She quickly added. Rukia pointed to the bracelet on her wrist. "He gave me this when I was only a little girl and left me in the care of the Kuchiki clan, a noble clan that resides in the Soul Society."

Ichigo's eyes widened. "What! I thought your last name was Kuchiki!" Ichigo exclaimed, his eyes almost falling out of his head.

"Well obviously not." Rukia replied nonchalantly, "I just hope I can find my brother someday," Rukia clutched onto her bracelet with the words "Susumu" engraved on it.

Ichigo felt a little sad for Rukia. He also felt a burning rage fuel up inside of him, what kind of brother leaves his baby sister to fend for herself, Ichigo would never stop being overprotective of Karin nor Yuzu even if Naruto kicked his ass hundred times over. Just thinking about that made angry veins pop out of Ichigo's head.

Ichigo inhaled and exhaled audibly, "I'll help you find your brother, Rukia." Rukia glanced up to meet Ichigo's gaze, "It's the least I could do for you. Considering you did give me your powers so I could save my family."

Confusion was written on Rukia's face. Ichigo looked so serene and determined, like finding her brother was number one on his to-do-list. "Ichigo." Rukia murmured softly, as if she was seeing Ichigo for the first time. Rukia smiled. "Thanks idiot. But you're going to have to get a whole lot stronger if you want to find my brother."

"I think I can take him." Ichigo said confidently, "How tough can he be? Really? If he's missing."

Rukia smirked: "I heard he once took on four Captains by himself and came out without a single scratch on him." Rukia explained. Ichigo shrugged his shoulders, not knowing what a Captain was, but thinking they were weaklings, "The level of a "Captain" is the highest rank anyone can achieve in all of the Soul Society." She added.

Ichigo gulped! Now he'd a general idea how strong Rukia's brother was. However, his confident and cocky attitude wouldn't allow him to accept that Rukia's brother may be on a whole level, like Naruto. Wait! Hold up! Where'd that come from!? Ichigo grinded his temples while muttering out words that sounded like, "Damn kid."

Rukia sweat dropped, "You okay Ichigo?" She hesitantly asked.

XxX

(Orihime and Tatsuki)

XxX

Orihime was happy, even more exuberant the usual. Over the past two weeks Orihime had been finding herself becoming unusually toleration of Rukia and Ichigo always being together. Almost to the point it didn't concern her. Most of her friends, especially Tatsuki, had even commented on Orihime seemingly improved bubbly attitude, if that were even possible?

Orihime only smiled widely, and told all her friends loudly and proudly that she'd made a new friend that was strong, brave, and had a strong sense of justice. Orihime's friends (Ryo, Chizuru, Reiko just to name a few), all blinked a couple of times until it downed on them that Orihime may have a mate. This conclusion almost brought hell upon the unsuspecting kids at school because Chizuru felt heartbroken that Orihime may have found a mate and proceeded to rant and rave about how she was going to kill the guy who dared take her sweet "Hime" away. That was until Tatsuki literally busted her skull open; almost getting herself expelled in the process.

Tatsuki still wasn't too keen on Ryosuke being around Orihime, but he did make Orihime happy and if Orihime was happy, Tatsuki was happy. Tatsuki would never admit it to her other friends that Orihime and Ichigo were her two closest and dearest friends. She'd met the two on different occasions but quickly became very protective of the two. When Ichigo lost his mother and was often getting picked on for turning from a happy, cheerful boy into a scowling miserable one; Tatsuki would immediately come to his aid and punish anyone foolish enough to bother Ichigo. Same with Orihime; kids would often bully her because of the colour of her hair and the length of it. It was only because Tatsuki protected her sister-like-friend was Orihime able to fully grow her hair.

It was just in Tatsuki's nature to want to protect her friends and that was why she'd been so suspicious of Ryosuke, in cast the boy turned out to be only after Orihime for her… goods, let's say. It hadn't seemed to bother Ryosuke at all that Tatsuki repeatedly came over every-time him and Orihime were alone together. He'd even accepted a spar from Tatsuki and of course was easily able to subdue her.

This surprised Orihime that her friend Tatsuki was defeated so effortlessly by her newest friend Ryosuke, but also made her more excited seeing Ryosuke's strength for a second time. Unfortunately it left Tatsuki exasperated! How could she lose to a kid twice, and without even managing to hit him once!

'I'll beat him one day,' Tatsuki concluded within her mind, a determined look in her eyes as she and Orihime strolled along the pavements, on their way to Orihime's apartment.

It was quiet, too quiet, almost as if something bad was about to happen. Tatsuki was suddenly getting a weird feeling; the streets should be livelier than this. So, why does it feel so deserted and desolate?

"Hmm, hmm." Tatsuki was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of Orihime's cheerful humming. "I hope Kagoshima-kun comes around today, I really want to show him how well I've improved my cooking skills."

Tatsuki merely looked at her, "You don't have to spend every-day with Ryosuke, you know," A hint of jealously was evident in Tatsuki's voice. "Besides, I'm here! Remember? Or have you forgotten about me already now that Ryosuke has suddenly appeared in your life."

"No Tatsuki-chan it's not like that." Orihime argued, trying to be as polite as she could. "It's just, I've been having so much fun with Kagoshima-kun that I can't wait until he comes over and we can repeat the fun all over again!"

"Okay, okay," Tatsuki's voice held scepticism as she sighed afterwards, "I'm just saying you don't have to keep thinking about Ryosuke twenty-four-seven."

Orihime would've flushed at that comment If not for a loud shout that'd got her and Tatsuki's attention.

"Oi there ladies." A man hollered, walking towards Orihime and Tatsuki with a swagger in his step. Walking with him were about 3, no, 5 five men all wearing the exact outfit as each other, which consisted of a biker jacket with a flaming skull on the back of their jackets, black trousers with metal attached to the sides, and black boots on their feet.

Most distinctive trait about these men was that they all have their hair shaved in a Mohawk-style-dried-purple. Looking at them one could easily tell they were all apart of some gang. They all have different numbers starting from one to six on their cheeks to tell them apart.

Tatsuki's eyes narrowed dangerously, as the karate girl immediately took a step in front of her best friend Orihime. Glaring at the men with a hardened look that told them if they tried anything funny she wouldn't hesitate to kill them all.

"Now, now, ladies calm down." The man with the number two tattoo on his face spoke slyly to Tatsuki and Orihime. Tatsuki continued to scowl at the five men while Orihime stared blankly at them. "We just want to _talk_."

"Talk?" Tatsuki wondered, raising an eyebrow. Like these men really wanted to just talk.

"Yeah, talk." Number 3 repeated, his voice held a hint of malice in it. "Talk you into bed that is." He finished, revealing their true intentions. Grimaces were seen in each of their eyes…

This told Tatsuki to immediately go on the offensive. She jolted her whole body forward, fist clenched to the point her skin broke, teeth gritted so much one could hear them grinding against each other. As soon as Tatsuki made her move she was forced to an abrupt halt!

"Coward!" Tatsuki exclaimed through her widened eyes. Number 1 had stabbed his hand into his pants and instantly whipped out a gun. "What gives you the right-…"

"Shut up!" Number one shouted, cutting off Tatsuki and making Orihime wince from the tone of voice he used. "I'm the one with the gun! So you'll do what I say. And what I say goes! Got it!?"

"Do whatever you want with me but you're not getting your pervert hands on Orihime!" Tatsuki yelled. Her eyes narrowed upon hearing the laughs at her attempts of heroism. "What's so damn funny?!"

"Who said we just want that one!" Number 5 answered first, gesturing his eyes towards Orihime. "I personally like my women feisty, like you," Number 5 leaned his head near Tatsuki and inhaled the perfume Orihime let her borrow, "Yeahhhhh! Me liking."

Tatsuki would've punched this asshole's face clean off for such a thing he'd just done to her, if not for the gun that was aimed at her head. Tatsuki would've already laid these weaklings down for the count and been on her way with Orihime already.

Orihime could only tremble, she knew just by looking into the men's eyes filled with all the menace and malevolence that'd intimidate most that they'd very bad intentions for them.

"I swear I'm gonna-…"

"No, no," – Number one wiggled his gun a little, forcing Tatsuki to stop or risk being shot. "I don't want to get nasty, now."

"…Bastard." Tatsuki muttered.

The sound of small almost calm footsteps made everyone turned their heads to the side to see a boy wearing a full black kung fu-like uniform and carrying what looked like a metal pipe on his shoulder.

"Kagoshima-kun!" – Orihime cried tears of relief, knowing Ryosuke will get them out of this situation.

"Who?" Number one wondered, watching the boy calmly striding towards them with absolutely no fear in his eyes despite being outnumbered seven to one. (That includes the gun.) A vein popped out of number one's cheek. "Cocky punk, you better stay right there!"

"Idiot!" Tatsuki shouted harshly, "You're going to get yourself killed! You should've called the police Ryosuke-idiot!"

Shivers immediately ran up Numbers two's, three's, four's, five's, and six's spines. Not Ryosuke! Anyone but him! NO! The boy had been making a name for himself over the past two weeks as the second toughest kid around Karakura town.

"Ryosuke?" Number one started in a mocking tone of voice. He was obviously incredibly stupid not to know about Ryosuke "What's so special about him, eh? He seems like a stupid kid!"

The lads near him all quivered, "B-boss!" Number 2 stammered, gulping a lump in his throat. "That's _the__e_ Kagoshima Ryosuke, second only to Uzumaki Naruto!"

A vein popped out of Ryosuke's cheek. "Shut up!" He shouted, making number two wince from the tone of his voice. "Don't you dare say that name to me! I'm the strongest not him!"

Number two, Number three, Number four, Number five, and Number six all quite literally dropped a dump in each of their pants. Taking steps back and instantly falling on their asses, "P-Please Kagoshima-san, w-we d-don't w-want to die!"

Tatsuki's eyes widened, 'They're scare of him!' Tatsuki concluded. The foul stench of the men's ruined pants reached her and Orihime's noses, "Disgusting!" Tatsuki grimaced that grown men could crap themselves.

"Hmm." Orihime hummed in agreement with Tatsuki; her eyes never leaving Ryosuke.

"YOU IDIOTS!" Number one scolded his crew, "You're all embarrassing the Mohawk gang!" Number one continued just as irritated. "He's just a stupid kid! We're all grown ass men! This Kagoshima and his friend Uzumaki should be nothing to us!"

"B-Boss," Number three whimpered. "I've seen Uzumaki. He's scary; he's like a true fox demon for real. He and Ryosuke aren't human!"

Ryosuke smirked, "Good. It's nice to see the thrash showing proper respect towards their superiors!"

Number three's eyes widened as wide as they could. The way Ryosuke spoke with such cockiness in his tone made the sweat slowly drop off of his and the other side members', (that make up the Mohawks), faces.

"Kagoshima-kun." Orihime whispered softly, admiration filling her eyes as a sense of protection surrounded her.

"You stupid bastard, I'll kill you!" A clicking sound filled the air as Number one prepared to put a bullet up Ryosuke's ass, hastily pointing his death weapon at Ryosuke.

"KAGOSHIMA-KUN/RYOSUKE!" Both Orihime and Tatsuki shouted worriedly. Orihime reached out for Ryosuke, but it was no used. It was already too late.

*BANG!*

The sound of a bullet being fired echoed throughout the air. Orihime screamed in horror, she was just moments away from losing her friend; it doesn't get any sadder than that.

Or was she?

Ryosuke had other ideas. A smirk of pour cockiness formed across Ryosuke's lips. He calmly, skilfully, slickly, and above all else at the speed equal or greater than a moving bullet held the metal pipe horizontally in front of himself where the bullet made contact and instantly emitted flashing sparks before Ryosuke waved his arm up in the air, sending the bullet soaring away like it was easy!

0_0… Silence washed over the area. The only thing that could be made out was the sight breeze that blew the shock faces of all those that witnessed Ryosuke reflect a bullet away like it was nothing.

"W-What a-are y-you!?" Number one stammered, his jaw dropping off with his eyes going too big for his head.

"He's a monster for real!" Number four exclaimed, sweat bullets pouring down his frightened face. "Uzumaki Naruto must be ten times stronger! I'm scare!"

"Whoa, Kagoshima-kun…" Orihime commented softly, awe filling her voice. "You're amazing!"

"How'd he do that?" Tatsuki murmured. No one should be able to reflect a moving bullet! That breaks all laws and physics! All logics! Everything you'd learn in school broken by Ryosuke reflecting a bullet away, effortlessly as well.

Number one was speechless! He now understood why most gangs around Karakura town were referring to Naruto and Ryosuke as the "demon boys". The things they do were freaking insane!

Ryosuke noticed Number one's gun slightly dropping off of his hand. He smirked; he wasn't going to pass up this opportunity. Ryosuke, in one slick motion, fazed out, shocking everyone greatly of the vanishing act. Ryosuke reappeared before anyone could even gasp, standing directly in front of a startled Number one.

A gun was flipped up into the air when Ryosuke hit Number one's hand with his metal pipe. "Owwwww," Number one screamed in pain just as the gun landed on Ryosuke's free palm. "No." Number one murmured, knowing he'd all but lost this fight.

Ryosuke let out a cocky chuckle in response. "Hey Tatsuki." He alerted. "You finished these fools already. Fighting them is a waste of my time!"

Tatsuki shook her head a couple of times to shake off her stupor, "Sure, why not! Seeing as you're too tired to finish them off, Ryosuke-san." Tatsuki teased with a smirk. But the gang of Mohawks knew she was just being playful with Ryosuke.

"Whatever." Ryosuke responded nonchalantly.

Tatsuki cracked her knuckles. She'd been dying to teach these cowards a lesson ever since they pulled out a gun on her, "Ready, you losers."

The Mohawks all gulped, "W-We c-can b-beat a g-girl, right lads?" Number one said, trying to reassure himself more than his crew.

*WHACK! BAMM! SLAM! WHAMM! BAMM! WHACK!*

Tatsuki didn't even give them a chance to respond before she assaulted them all with a devastating barrage of punches that were faster than the naked eye could see. (Of course Ryosuke seen it with ease) The Mohawks all let out cackle screams as they were powered into the ground by Tatsuki's fantastic barrage!

"**Arisawa's Shitsuyōna bōkō, tora no 10 kobushi (****Arisawa's relentless assault, ten fists of tigers****)**" – Tatsuki announced her move in some style; posing skilfully, and having a confident (almost saiyan-ish) smirk on her lips.

Orihime was amazed at her friends' skills. She was about to go thank her hero Ryosuke, but Tatsuki beat her to the punch.

"Ryosuke, how'd you do that back there?"

"Do what?" He asked rhetorically.

"Don't play stupid with me! You reflected a bullet with that metal pipe in your hand!" Tatsuki exclaimed with wide eyes.

Ryosuke smirked, "One day, I may be complied to tell you." He turned around; missing the glare Tatsuki sent him. 'I need to go meet up with Uzumaki. See what this whole Karin getting bad vibes thing means,' Ryosuke thought. Naruto had phoned him on his mobile phone and informed him about the situation with Karin. Both had agreed that they'd meet up at the Urahara shoten.

"Argh." Ryosuke grunted quietly, realizing he'd have to face Ururu, and knowing she'll most likely be upset with him for neglecting her for the amount of time he'd done. Ryosuke does not like upsetting girls; he'd have to make it up to her somehow.

Ryosuke took a couple of steps forward. He stopped when he felt a soft hand tug on his arm. He Turned his head to the side to be greeted by Orihime's gaze.

"Thank you for saving me, Kagoshima-kun. I really appreciate you protecting me." Orihime stated in a soft voice. "I hope we can hang out together soon. I'll cook you my specialty."

"Orihime-chan…" Tatsuki whispered, surprised Orihime was speaking to Ryosuke so softly, like how a wife would speak to her husband.

Ryosuke smiled, "I would like that."

Orihime smiled warmly at Ryosuke. Happy to know she had a good friend always willing to come to her aid. Not to mention shared her "unique" taste buds. A wonderful friendship was blossoming nicely between Ryosuke and Orihime.

XxX

(Elsewhere)

XxX

In a deserted old fashion run down park, the trees were ruined, the slides were the children would normally play was destroyed. This park seemed like the aftermath of a huge war between the older kids and the younger kids.

A terrifying scream echoed throughout the air. A little boy was sprinting for his life, being chased by none other than a huge hollow!

The boy had chocolate brown wavy hair and big dark orbs for eyes. He was very short and he was wearing a blue t shirt, red trousers, and brown sandals on his feet. The poor boy looked no older than five and was being forced to run for his life, which was not fair.

The boy tripped over a rock and instantly fell on his face. "No." He pleaded with the hollow not to hurt him. "Why are you doing this? You killed my mommy," He whimpered.

The hollow stomped the ground as hard as he could, making the quivering boy wince. The hollow was enormous! He'd a dark grey body with brown fur around his neck. His white mask was straight and pointed like a straight pencil at the chin.

"**Grrrrrrrrrrrr**!" He roared. "**This is what you deserve for killing me**!" – He shouted as his yellow hollow eyes glowed with evil intentions, "I will torture you until the end of time!"

The little boy shut his eyes tight and screamed, "I WANT MY MOMMY!"

"**YOU'RE NOT GETTING MOMMY**!" – He shouted uproariously, "**BECAUSE I KILLED HER AND I ENJOYED IT TOO! MWMWMWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!**" – He laughed manically. "**NOW, LET ME ENJOY**!"

The hollow launched himself at the little boy, who was frozen in place, overwhelmed with fear; he shut his eyes and prayed for a quick death so he could be with his beloved mom once again.

*SMASH*

A tremendous deafening scream was heard coming from the hollow as he was violently kicked so hard it sent him spiralling backwards before crashing heavily on the unforgiving concrete floor.

"You monster!" Naruto shouted, landing gracefully on the ground after smashing the hollow in his face while still in his human form. "How dare you attack this boy!" The blond growled angrily.

The little boy snapped his eyes open, "A-Are you Kami?" He asked his saviour who was standing protectively in front of him.

Naruto turned his head over his shoulder to look at the little boy with a caring look in his eyes, "I wouldn't say I'm Kami!" The blond humbly admitted. "But I'm very lucky!" He modestly continued, "Because it was great timing that I happened to be passing by on my way to Shadow-Eyes!"

The hollow slowly stood up, "You!" He growled at Naruto, "You do not have the right to interfere boy!"

"Shut up." Naruto demanded. "There's no way I'll ever let you hurt this boy!"

"Then you die, simple as!" The hollow declared.

"Heh." Naruto let out a little cocky laugh in response to that as he stabbed his hand into his pocket, looking for his soul badge. "Un-oh." Naruto began pattering himself down, just hoping he hadn't done what he was thinking. "Shit! I left my soul badge in my other pants!"

"You said a swear word mister. That's not nice!" The little boy stated.

"Shut up kid! I never said I was a saint!" Naruto bellowed. The kid was beginning to doubt rather the blond was truly the kami he imagined him to be. Kamis don't swear or tell kids to shut up.

The hollow quickly lunged in on Naruto, determined to devoured him and get back to torturing the little boy. Naruto, actually being caught off guard by the strength of his own human form, was easily able to block the hollow's claw attack by quickly hoisting his arm up.

A confident smile grew across Naruto's face, knowing for a fact this hollow was no match for him even in human form. Naruto smacked the hollow straight into his gut and the force and intensity of the blow sent it skyrocketing backwards. The hollow screamed before creating a mini crater where he crash-landed.

The boy's eyes went wide open with amazement. Maybe Naruto was the Kami he'd imagined him to be after all.

Naruto was about to charge the hollow again but was quickly forced on the defence when a powerful beam of energy shaped like an arrow zoomed in on him. Naruto did a back-flip, successfully avoiding the blue arrow someone seemingly fired. Naruto landed cat-style next to the little boy.

"Shit! I won't be able to beat that in my human form!" Naruto realized. "Time to retreat for now! Tactically speaking of course…" Naruto hurled the little boy over his back. The little boy gasped in surprise as he did this. Naruto immediately blurred out of existence and took the little boy with him.

The hollow painfully stood up, "Goro-san" (Mr Goro)

A man suddenly appeared via Hirenkyaku. He was a fairly tall lean built man, standing at 9ft tall. He was wearing a black tank top, a long black leather jacket and matching trousers and sandals on. He'd golden coloured eyes, and brown shaggy hair.

"It seems Uzumaki Naruto decided to retreat." Goro spoke in a casual tone. "Hehe, he's smarter then he looks."

"That stupid kid stopped me from torturing that little bastard boy." The hollow roared.

"Not to worry Shrieker." Goro assured. "For even a fool has his usefulness."

"What do you mean Goro-san?" The hollow now known as Shrieker replied, making sure to be as polite as he could. This man was giving off an eerily feeling and his spiritual pressure was fierce to boot!

"Let me tell you a story, Shrieker." Goro started, receiving a look of confusion from Shrieker in the process. "Once upon a time ago, there lived a man, who was not only respected but also feared. And his name was Ogre." Goro continued. "Do you know why Ogre was so special and feared?"

Shirker shook his head.

"I'll tell you. Ogre had once defeated four Shinigami Captains in his shikai mode alone. Furthermore, every single Captain he'd defeated was in their bankai forms," Goro explained. Shrieker gasped in shock! "But, unfortunately for Ogre, he became twisted and paid a heavy consequence for it."

Shrieker gulped. "Like what?" He found himself reluctantly asking.

Goro grinned evilly, "He was sentenced to all eternity within the deep, dark void that is hell!" Goro exclaimed and Shrieker's jaw was dropping off, "Now, he wanders hell, just wanting for an opportunity to be set free!"

"A-Are you thinking about setting him free?" Shrieker asked. Goro's reply was to be grin manically, "But how would you be able to control such a beast of destruction if he could take down four Captains by himself!" Shirker argued. "You did say the Captains were among the best of the best the Soul Society has to offer."

"Even the most untamed animals have their weaknesses." Goro coolly responded, stabbing his hands into his pocket. "Ogre-san is no different. Find his soft spot and he'll be mine to control at will."

"I don't understand, Goro-san." Shrieker exclaimed. "What soft spot are you talking about?"

"Find a girl who carries a bracelet engraved with the name "Susumu" across it. And that'll be his soft spot." Goro insisted. "Even the most powerful warriors will succumb upon seeing their precious ones in danger. Ogre's no different. He will join me and together we'll destroy the whole Soul Society!"


	9. Legendary power hidden in Naruto!

**Disclaimer: Tite Kubo owns Bleach and his brethren Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto. Keep the chapters coming lads. **

**Chapter 9**

**Legendary Power Hidden in Naruto**

* * *

Outside of the Urahara Shoten, both Jinta and Ururu were hard at work making sure to sweep the front yard as best as they could. Jinta had chosen to nonchalantly slack off with the work; the red headed boy cursed Kisuke and Tessai for forcing him to attend to the hard harbour they don't want to do. Ururu had shyly stated that Jinta shouldn't be slacking off the way he was doing. That only irritated the short red headed boy, who immediately dashed over to pull on Ururu's pigtails, but instantly stopped half way to her when an incredible amount of killing intent suddenly filled the air. Such a murderous aura, it'd Jinta sweating bullets while his eyes widened from the shock of sensing such a huge wave of spiritual pressure.

Ururu's eyes brightened up when she realized Ryosuke had arrived. Ryosuke merely nodded at her while he looked over to the terrified red headed boy and simply shook his head while muttering out words that sounded like, "No honour", before calmly walking into the Urahara Shoten to be greeted by Kisuke and Tessai.

"Ah, Ryosuke-san, what might bring you here?" Kisuke welcomed, leisurely sitting back on a lazy-boy chair. "I hope you're here to purchase some fine merchandise."

Ryosuke groaned in frustration, "Uzumaki ranged me not too long ago, saying something about Karin getting bad vibes." Ryosuke explained, coolly leaning back against the wall of the shop, "He said he'd come here and ask you for advice on the matter, and I said I'd meet him later," Ryosuke glanced around the shop in annoyance. "…He's not here."

Kisuke shook his head, "No, I don't see him here." He continued. "About Karin getting bad vibes, my guess would be that she has obtained spiritual awareness, or was just born with the unique ability to sense things."

"Makes sense I suppose." Ryosuke responded, relating how his mother obtained spiritual awareness to how Karin obtained it. "Apparently, Uzumaki was saying a voice filled with hatred was sending Karin death threats through her head or something along the lines."

"Hmm," Kisuke hummed in thought while rubbing his chin. "I wonder, could this be related to 'you know who'. Hmm, it's a possibility." He murmured so Ryosuke wouldn't hear him.

"What?" Ryosuke inquired. "Do you know who has been sending Karin those messages through her head?"

Kisuke looked somewhat surprised Ryosuke was able to hear him. Nevertheless he responded in a laid back manner, "Well yes, I believe I do."

A vein popped out of Ryosuke's forehead, "Then why didn't you just tell me already! It's frustrating not being told something! Now spit it out old man before I cut you up!"

Kisuke chuckled nervously, "Easy there, Ryosuke-kun." That only made Ryosuke scowl at Kisuke when he emitted the "kun"- suffix to his name. "Just relax, and I'll tell you all I know when Naruto-san arrives."

Ryosuke growled at the mention of the blonde's name. He was sure Naruto would be the death of him one day. How he absolutely despised being second best to him…!

Tiny squeaking sounds suddenly filled the room, making both Kisuke and Ryosuke snap their heads to look at the intruder. Ryosuke raised an eyebrow as a black cat with distinctive golden piercing slits strode into the shop as if it owned it.

Kisuke grinned widely and ran over to hug the cat, pressing his face against its, earning himself a purr from the cat in the process.

Ryosuke merely looked at the happy Kisuke, "What in the word is he so happy about?"

"That's the boss' best friend Kagoshima-kun." Came Ururu's timid voice as she and the red headed boy strolled into the shop.

Ryosuke simply nodded, "I see."

"Kind of weird though." Jinta commented thoughtfully, folding his arms behind his head, "The cat seems to miraculously turn up on its own whatever it wants to see the boss."

Ryosuke raised an eyebrow, "How the hell does a cat do that?" Before Jinta or Ururu could answer him, the sound of loud footsteps made them snap their by their heads to the side to be greeted by the sight of Ryosuke's rival, "Uzumaki!"

"Yo," Naruto casually strode into the Urahara shoten with a little boy hanging off of his back. Naruto raised an eyebrow upon seeing Kisuke hugging the cat. "I never knew Shadow-Eyes had a cat. When'd he get that?"

Ryosuke shrugged, "I don't know." Ryosuke pointed to the little boy on Naruto's back. The little boy hid behind Naruto and pressed his face into his back. "Where'd you get him? More importantly, why'd you bring him here?" Ryosuke inquired and both Jinta and Ururu nodded with curious looks on their faces.

"Who, you mean this little guy?" Naruto wondered, half turning his back so Ryosuke could get a better look at the brown haired boy, "I saved him from a hollow earlier. I was going to bust the hollow up in my human form alone because I forgot my soul badge."

"What?" Ryosuke's eyes widened, "How could you beat a hollow without becoming a shinigami?"

A feral grin spread itself across Naruto's face, "Because I'm awesome fool. You forgot who you're talking to!" Naruto yelled, making Ryosuke roll his eyes, "Anyway, I'm going to try and locate the boy's mother after I'm finish here."

"You can't do that." The boy suddenly cut off Naruto, sounding depressed. Naruto, Ryosuke, Jinta, and Ururu all raised their eyebrows at him, "My mommy got killed by that big monster," He wailed and Naruto felt a burning hatred fuel up inside of him.

"I see," Naruto exclaimed calmly. "Then you can stay at my home with my grandma Tomoyo and myself," Naruto finished cheerily.

Ryosuke crossed his arms over his chest and coolly leaned back against the wall, "You sure your grandma will allow that."

"Sure I'm sure!" Naruto responded with a careless shrug of his shoulders, "Don't worry kid; everything's going to be okay now. I'll protect you from that hollow, so don't worry about getting eaten; because I'll send that hollow to the great beyond next time I see him!"

"Thank you, mister," The little boy whimpered. "I guess that makes you my nii-chan?" He inquired and Naruto sheepishly scratched the side of his face.

"Probably."

"Ah, I see you're finally here, Uzumaki Naruto." Kisuke exclaimed and Naruto raised an eyebrow; surprised Kisuke stopped hugging the cat so suddenly and without warning.

Naruto shrugged, "Yeah, I guess."

Kisuke grinned, "Then we can get started."

"Wait one minute," Naruto brought Kisuke to a halt. Kisuke raised an eyebrow before Naruto took the little boy off of his back and handed him over to a confused looking Ururu. "I don't want my new otouto (new little brother) to have to hear this. Could you take him outside for him Ururu-san?"

Ururu nodded in understanding and took the little boy outside.

Ryosuke turned to Jinta, "You get out too." He commanded, showing Jinta the door. Jinta tried to fight back. "Eh? What's that? You say you want to fight me now, eh? Come on then, I could use a good warm up before I fight Uzumaki." Jinta quickly ran outside with his tail between his legs, "Coward."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Since when has he ever been a warm up for you to take me on afterwards, eh?" Naruto asked with a deadpan look on his features, "If anything, he should be my warm up before I whoop ya' ass like I always do, teme!"

"Whatever!" Ryosuke growled out, not wanting to admit Naruto was right all along.

"That was a very sweet thing you did for that boy, Naruto." Came a male voice that never belonged to Kisuke.

"Yeah, yeah, I know Shadow-Eyes." Naruto nodded, thinking Kisuke was the one who spoke those words. He glanced at Kisuke to find him shrugging his shoulders, as if saying 'I didn't say anything.' Naruto turned his gaze towards the black cat; simultaneously wondering if he'd gone mad in the head to think a cat can talk. Naruto flinched when the cat raised a paw at him.

"Hi, I don't think we've met before. I'm Yoruichi!" The cat introduced itself.

Naruto's eyes popped out of his head, "Oh shit, that cat can talk!" Naruto instinctively took a step back against the wall, "Yo Ryosuke did you hear that." He turned to Ryosuke to see his rival also freaking out by the sight of a talking cat.

"…A talking cat. Who are these people? It must be a demon cat or something." Ryosuke wondered to himself, and with his arms held defensively in front of himself.

The cat got a sweat drop falling off the side of its face, "Well, I'm not really a cat if it helps." It, he, she, or whatever it was, tried to clarify. That confession only brought bewildered expressions to Ryosuke and Naruto's faces, making the cat sighed languidly, "I guess I'll just have to show you my true form." Neither boy missed the gleam that occurred in Kisuke's eyes when the cat stated that.

Naruto's and Ryosuke's eyes widened when the cat began to glow a fantastic-shiny blue color. They gawked as the small black cat morphed and changed shape, its body seemingly going more feminine! It couldn't have been a woman. Surely that was impossible for a male-talking-cat to be a woman! Isn't it?

A dust cloud of smoke surfaced from the woman, making Naruto and Ryosuke shoved their arms in front of their faces and cough violently into their hands. After the smoke cleared up, the black cat was gone, vanished into thin air. Instead, in its place was a beautiful dark-skinned woman with purple hair tied back in a pony tail and golden silts for eyes. Yep, she played the cat part perfectly.

Naruto and Ryosuke couldn't help but blush ferociously. A gorgeous woman was standing in front of them, what man in the right mind wouldn't blush and gawk at her amazing beauty. Besides a fruitcake, but that was beside the point.

Yoruichi stretched out her arms and legs, sporting a cat-like smirk on her face at the boys' reactions to seeing her true form, "What do you think boys?" She gave them a wink as she posed gracefully, her arms held up above her head while her left leg was slightly bent at the knee.

Ryosuke just about never got a nose bleed, "Shit, she's almost as beautiful as Orihime." Ryosuke mentally cursed himself when he realized he called Orihime beautiful.

Naruto turned his head to the side, as if getting a better look at her, "Whoa." Yoruichi raised an eyebrow because the boy was looking at her eyes, and not her chest like most men would do, "You have cat eyes! That's so cool!"

Yoruichi laughed light heartedly, "Well, I think I'm going to like you, Whiskers-san"

"Hey!" Naruto took offense to that nickname. "The whiskers on my cheeks are cool," Naruto commented and Yoruichi only laughed again. "I'm a fearsome tiger!"

Kisuke coughed twice into his hand, gaining everyone's attention, "Now, what was it that you wanted to talk about Naruto-san?"

Naruto hummed, "Well…"

XxX

(Hueco Mundo)

XxX

The sands were coated with dry blood, and the sky consistently stayed black. The sound of a growling stomach echoed all throughout the world of the hollows: Hueco Mundo.

"I'm hungry!" A man grumbled to himself. Or at least he looked like a man. He had strange red fur covering his entire body; he was fairly tall, standing at least 12 ft. tall. He had piecing yellow slits with black rings going around his eyes. He was wearing a full white shihakusho (like the ones the Arrancars wear) slightly trimmed at the bottom. And he had a straight-edged Ōdachi sheathed to his hip.

The man-thing looked at the sky impassively, "Where the hell's Kenzo!?"

As if on cue, there were small faint footsteps approaching the raging man, "Yo, Kurama the Arrancar." The man greeted the red furred man now known as Kurama the Kyuubi. "I bought us some food," He finished, holding up a bag of what looked like two cheeseburgers inside it. The man had a hood over his face, seemingly trying to conceal his identity, tanned skin; a grey goatee connected to his grey moustache and had three cat-like whisker-marks on each of his cheeks. He was wearing a white shihakusho trimmed at the bottom, like Kurama's, and he had a Jintachi curved slightly at the tip resting on his hip. And the goofy man had huge wide shoulders.

Kurama looked at the man with a scowl on his face. The man smiled cheekily at the former fox demon, "Don't be like that, Kurama-san. You're not still mad at me about that thing I did all those years ago, eh?"

Kurama scoffed, "You make it sound like killing me weren't such a bad thing, eh? Kenzo…"

The man now known as Kenzo grinned widely, "Because it isn't!" He yelled. "Think about it for a minute, we can no longer die, and we're twice as powerful as when we were alive, good old fox buddy!"

Kurama shrugged, "I suppose you make a point." He reluctantly agreed while taking one bag from Kenzo's hand.

Kenzo nodded fiercely, "Of course!" Kenzo sat down in a lotus position and took up a meditative state. Kurama gave him a dry look. "I have to gather all my energy up to a single point. Then and only then will I be able to give all my power to Naruto."

Kurama shook his head at Kenzo, "I don't see why you'd waste your energy on a stupid blond-boy for! It makes no sense! None whatsoever; his power doesn't even come close to matching ours. So why would you, the strongest Arrancar, want to throw all of that away just to help some blond-boy for?"

Kenzo began to explain his reasons, "Because, I made a promise." Kurama raised an eyebrow as Kenzo continued, "I promise to myself that I'd protect Naruto if needs be. Naruto's very strong as he is now, and he can become even stronger with the incredible power unlocked within him." 'Not to mention he seems have been chosen by Ren.' Kenzo added gravely, keeping that thought to himself.

Kurama seemed interested now, "Incredible power? You mean like the spirit king and the most powerful of all hollows have, huh? If that's the case, then there's no need for the boy to take your power. You'll just leave yourself open to be eaten by ordinary hollows if you go through with this."

Kenzo looked somewhat surprised by Kurama's concern, "Well Kurama, I didn't know you cared." Kenzo commented and Kurama just simply shrugged his shoulders, "In any case, Naruto needs my power. You see, the power Naruto has inside of him won't fully mature for around two hundred years or so."

Kurama's jaw almost fell off, "Two hundred years?" Kenzo nodded to confirm Kurama's question, "You only said yesterday the boy will have enough power to obliterate even the Captain-Commander of the Soul Society once he awakens his power!"

Kenzo hummed, "This power didn't make the Spirit King and (or) one the hollow kings so respected and feared among all other shinigamis and hollows for nothing, you know. I do believe Naruto will be the best of the best someday, he has that kind of potential." Kenzo quickly added before Kurama could interrupt. "Now eat your damn burger before I eat it myself."

"Whatever…" Kurama grumbled and was forced to react quickly when Kenzo threw a stone at him, "Just don't get yourself killed when you lose all your power, Kenzo. I'd hate to think a man that'd the power to destroy me, the mighty Kyuubi no Yoko, effortlessly, can be beaten by a weakling."

Kenzo laughed, "Yeah, I know what you mean pal." With that said both men or creatures or whatever the hell they were, ate, meditated, had a shit, and went to sleep.

XxX

(Tomoyo's house – Naruto's bedroom)

XxX

Naruto had returned home with the little boy by his side. Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly in Naruto's opinion, his grandma welcomed the little boy with open arms after hearing from Naruto that the boy had nowhere else to go. Tomoyo felt sorry for the poor boy, it reminded her of the time when Yuzu, Karin, and Ichigo's mother was taken out…That had shocked Naruto to learn that his grandma had known Yuzu and Karin's mother sometime in her life. He tried to question her about the matter, but instead she mumbled on about something else and ended up giving Naruto a headache.

Naruto, after learning that the little boy's name was Shibata Yuichi, placed Yuichi, who'd fallen asleep, on top of a mattress next to his bed. Naruto looked down at the sleeping boy with a dejected look upon his face.

"He looks so peaceful…" Naruto murmured as he threw himself onto the soft comfort of his own bed, "So, Karin-chan has got powers just like me." Kisuke had told Naruto that because he was around Karin so much he ended up passing some of his powers onto her, thus giving her the uncanny ability to sense strong energy signatures near by. And the stronger the energy signature is, the more pain poor Karin will be put through… "Damn it!" Naruto clenched his fist and slammed it against the wall of his bedroom; almost waking up Yuichi as he did. "That still leaves the possibility that someone's intentionally raising his energy to hurt Karin-chan." Naruto growled in frustration as his teeth, unknowingly to him, began to turn into razor sharp fangs, "I'll find whoever's hurting Karin-chan and make them pay for even attempting to torture her. And that's a promise."

But right now, Naruto had to get some sleep. After all, he did have school in the morning. Naruto groaned. His day-off was totally ruined by the bastard that dared to hurt his precious Karin-chan. "I swear I'm going to kill the bastard, or bitch." Naruto promised before resting his head against the pillow on his bed and forcefully closing his eyes to get some sleep.

Not a good though.

xXx

(Elsewhere - Goro and Shrieker)

xXx

The two were discussing how Goro was going to go about releasing the little demon that was called: "Susumu Ogre" from within the Demon-World. The man would've to be trapped in the deepest, darkest part of the "Demon-World", otherwise known as Hell. Where the strongest and most feared hollows and demons roam about; so strong they make Ogre and old Yamamoto look like flies among giants. So powerful in fact if they ever broke out it'd force the spirit king himself to go face them. Such power… Who in the right mind would ever want to come face to face with the mightiest of all hollows?

"That'd be me, my hollow friend." Goro spoke absentmindedly after Shrieker had voiced his concerns about opening the gate to the Demon-World, thus unleashing the devil's wrath upon the unsuspecting citizens (not that it matters) and them! Now that mattered. "Don't worry, Shrieker." Goro assured. "Everything will soon fall in place." The two continued to walk on in silence, passing only the sounds of wandering sprits through the night.

Shrieker wanted to know where Goro was taking them. "Where are we going Goro-san? You said something about visiting a lady friend or something like that." Shrieker guessed.

Goro nodded, "I did, didn't I?" He mockingly inquired as the two of them reached the bottom of a mountain-like hill and began to ascend it. 'It's nearly that time of the year again. I wonder how Ichigo will handle it.' He spoke in his mind so Shrieker wouldn't hear him.

Shrieker was sweating bullets, "W-What's with the big hill!?" He ferociously inquired. "I'm sweating here!"

Goro remained silent as they continued to stride up the long hill in the middle of the night. After what seemed like forever with the hollow Shrieker complaining how deep the hill was, the two finally made it to the top of the hill. Goro suddenly stopped, "I'll go on alone from here, Shrieker. Wait here until I return."

Shrieker raised an eyebrow, "What do you need from here, Goro-san." Shrieker observed their surroundings. He mind began to wonder seeing a load of tombstones sticking out of the ground, 'A Cemetery! Why would Goro-san bring me here? Did he lose someone close to him?' Shrieker glanced up at Goro and immediately shrugged off that thought when all he saw was an icily look in the man's eyes.

Goro took two steps forward before stopping, "Be prepared tomorrow, Shrieker. You'll be attacking Uzumaki Naruto." Even know the Quincy man had his back turned to the hollow, he could still feel him gleaming. "I need you to draw out Uzumaki Naruto's full power, think you can do that, Shrieker?"

Shrieker chuckled, "You're kidding? Of course I can push that blond-brat into the corner so far that he'll just have to use his full power just to stay alive against me, haha!"

Goro laughed and then remembered something important, "You do realized Naruto would've annihilated you in his human form alone if I hadn't fire an arrow at him."

Shrieker stopped laughing at that point, "No, the kid just got lucky against me, I'm stronger then him." He growled. "Next time I'll beat him for sure boss!"

Goro stabbed his hands into his pockets and coolly walked towards a certain tombstone in particular, "Whatever you say, Shrieker, whatever you say." Shrieker scowled as Goro disappeared from his sight.

XxX

(The next day)

XxX

Naruto began to stir on his bed, "No grandma, I don't want to go to school today. Let me just stay home and sleep all day without a care in the world." Naruto murmured with his eyes closed. Naruto felt something jump onto his chest, as if he was a bouncy castle.

"Get up nii-chan." Yuichi's voice echoed throughout Naruto's room. The little boy had already taken quite the liking to Naruto and Tomoyo, and began to see them as his new family, seeing as he'd no one else to call family. "Grandma said you've got school."

Naruto opened his eyes and groaned, "Ahhhh." Naruto set up and lifted the boy off of his chest and lay him down next to him. "Okay, I'm getting up now." After all, Naruto was technically a big brother to little Yuichi, and as such he'd to act like one. That unfortunately included of setting an example by attending school with a cheery face on him.

Yuichi pointed at Naruto, "You don't look happy at all. Grandma said you have to be happy when attending school or she'll take you herself."

Naruto jumped out of bed and paled, "No, my grandma can't take me to school again! The last time she "escorted" me to school for two weeks I ended up being the laughing stock of the whole school!" Naruto dashed off to his wardrobe, flung the door open, and immediately began scanning through the selection of his hung-up clothes for his school uniform. "What the f-." Naruto had to remember to watch his language around his otouto (little brother)

Yuichi had a confused expression on his little face as he watched Naruto rave, "Is this how big kids always act in the morning? I might need to start copying nii-chan then."

Naruto aggressively pulled the door to his room open and leaned his head out, "Grandma Tomoyo, I can't find my school uniform!"

Tomoyo's voice came from downstairs, "It's still in the wash Naruto-kun. You'll just have to wear whatever you want and take a note to school."

Naruto palmed his face for a second. How could his uniform not be clean and ready when he'd a day-off from school yesterday? "Wait a minute." A huge smile grew across Naruto's face. "I don't have to wear my uniform today. Yes! Thank you grandma Tomoyo for not washing my school uniform, I loathe wearing it anyway."

Yuichi jumped off of the bed and jogged out of Naruto's room, "I'm going downstairs to eat some breakfast now nii-chan." He said and Naruto nodded. With that said Yuichi went downstairs and Naruto began to get ready for school.

xXx

(Urahana Shoten)

xXx

The retarded scientist had seen the sun rise over the horizon from the chair he was sitting on. He stretched out his arms in a relax fashion before resting them lazily at his sides.

Kisuke's hat shadowed his eyes as he began to think about the discussion he'd with Naruto, Ryosuke, and Yoruichi involving the whole Karin sensing a dangerous enemy near by, "What could it mean." Kisuke quietly assessed to himself, "It has to be something to do with Ichigo's family," No shit Sherlock. Kisuke scratched his head, "Could it be him? Could he want revenge on Isshin for taking away his one true love? Hmm, I wonder." Kisuke made sure not to tell Naruto or Ryosuke about the last part just in case Isshin didn't want him to.

Jinta and Ururu were quietly sweeping the front part of the shop, making sure not to make a noise that'd disturb Kisuke in any way possible, Jinta especially. The red headed boy was making sure not to bully Ururu in anyway possible after what Ryosuke told him yesterday.

Jinta immediately shivered just thinking about the deathly way Ryosuke spoke those words, "_Next__ time I catch you bothering her…__ I will kill you_." Ryosuke's words flashed through Jinta's head, causing the red headed boy to freeze in place.

Ururu noticed Jinta freeze in place and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Are you okay Jinta-kun?"

Jinta jumped a little, "Yeah, I'm fine." He returned to his sweeping afterwards.

The sound of approaching footsteps alerted everyone of an incoming customer. Kisuke grinned widely, "Kuchiki-san," He greeted and Rukia bowed her head upon making it next to Kisuke. "What may I do for you, Kuchiki-san?"

Rukia decided to cut straight to the chase, "I need to purchase a packet of soul candy, if you have any."

Kisuke's grin got even wider as he whipped his fan and shoved it over his mouth, hiding his ridiculous smile, "And why would you come to me for, as I am only a mere humble shopkeeper?"

Rukia rolled her eyes, "Cut the crap Urahara." She snapped. "Ichigo will need a way to transform into a shinigami when I'm not around, or if he still needs to attend class and there's a hollow attack simultaneously transpiring."

Kisuke frowned before standing up from his chair, "Alright, alright." Kisuke walked into the shop, leaving Rukia standing there already dressed in her school uniform. After a moment of patiently tapping her foot on the floor, Kisuke emerged from the shop holding a packet of soul candy, "I'm afraid I've only got one left in stock at the moment, Kuchiki-san."

Rukia let out a sigh, "…Alright that's fine." Rukia handed over the money to Kisuke and took the soul candy from him. "This should do the trick." And with that said Rukia left to go meet up with Ichigo.

Kisuke returned to the comfort of his chair, and lazily gazed up at the sky, "Another day, another customer," he sighed and rested his eyes, hoping the next customer would appear soon.

xXx

(With Naruto)

xXx

Naruto was dressed in his favourite black and dark blue Gi he wore while training under his former mentor Sachihiro. The blond jolted out of the house knowing full well his grandmother would take good care of Yuichi. The little boy waved goodbye to his new nii-chan and went back into the house when Naruto could no longer be seen.

Naruto casually strode towards the home of the Kurosaki's to see how Karin was feeling today, "I sure hope Karin-chan's feeling better." The blond certainly wouldn't want to go to school without both of his girls by his side. "I'm sure she's feeling fine!" Naruto held his head high and paced faster, eager to see his beloved Karin and Yuzu.

xXx

(The Kurosaki Siblings)

xXx

The three siblings had just strolled out of their home all dressed in their respective uniforms. Karin appeared to be feeling much better; however that still didn't mean she wasn't able to sense the strong energy signature that kept her bedridden for the whole of her day-off though. What really threw Karin off was the realization that Naruto and Ichigo both had high energy signatures, but Ichigo's was (and still is) much lower than Naruto's.

Speaking of Ichigo, the orange haired young man had been acting strangely ever since waking up. The girls just knew it, being his younger sisters and all. Ichigo would usually flip out and go mad after their father, Isshin, did his morning routine which was to ferociously slam his foot straight into Ichigo's head, sending Ichigo flying outside in severe pain. It certainly came as a shock to Isshin when Ichigo calmly stood up and replied, "Good kick… dad."

That made Isshin's eyes widen from shock. His son never called him dad, ever! It was always old man, in fact the only times Isshin could recall Ichigo ever calling him dad was when it was that time of the year again… And that was when the realization hit Isshin like a ton of bricks. He immediately insisted that his son stay home from school but Ichigo shrugged off his worries and insisted on going to school, knowing full well he'd need his day-off tomorrow.

Yuzu solemnly glanced at her older brother from where she was walking with him and her twin sister Karin. She didn't like seeing Ichigo not being himself; she'd gotten quite used to him acting the way he does since their mother died. That only made Yuzu dejected, truth be told she mourned for her mommy every year they go and visit her grave.

If it wasn't for Naruto, Yuzu was sure she would've been just as depressed as Ichigo was. Naruto always had a charming way that made butterflies appear in Yuzu's stomach, and sent goose-bumps all over her body to cheer her up. Just imagining Naruto instantly made Yuzu slip into daydreaming mode.

Karin sighed as her sister muttered something that sounded like, "Mr and Mrs Uzumaki." Karin couldn't really argue with Yuzu though, Naruto had (and always will) this certain charm and swagger about him that hit all the right buttons on Karin as much as she refused to believe so. Karin had to shake her head when a blush found its way onto her face. Why was she thinking about Naruto like that? She doesn't have a crush on him, Yuzu does! Where'd that thought about Naruto romantically turning her on come from?

Karin shrugged, 'It's probably nothing.'

A shout of pour exuberance made Yuzu, Karin and Ichigo snap their heads to the sound, "What's up Karin-chan, Yuzu-chan?" Naruto suddenly appeared in a blur of yellow next to Yuzu.

Yuzu squealed, "Naruto-kun!" Yuzu tackled Naruto in a tight hug that actually made Naruto gag for air.

Naruto whined slightly, "Did you get stronger Yuzu-chan?" Naruto teased as he caressed Yuzu's hair, putting a blush on her face that did not go unnoticed by Naruto that time. Naruto smirked. He was finally catching onto a girl's signal, and he loved it. 'I'm not oblivious anymore! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay,' Naruto roared in his mind.

Yuzu and Karin sweat-dropped at seeing a triumphant Naruto, "Um… Are you okay, Naruto-kun?" Yuzu asked, very reluctantly letting go of Naruto.

Naruto grinned sheepishly, "My bad." He then looked at Karin, "And how are you feeling today, Karin-dear?"

Karin pleasantly bowed at Naruto's politeness towards her, "I'm fine Naruto, thank you for asking."

Naruto's expression immediately went from happy to a scowl look upon seeing Ichigo, "Ugh, did I forget you, Ichigo. Speak up man; you're being way too quiet."

Yuzu tried speaking up for Ichigo, knowing Naruto would punch him if he found out Ichigo wasn't acting like himself, "Naruto-kun, onii-chan's not feeling very well today-." She was cut off by Ichigo.

"How are you, Naruto-san?" Naruto raised an eyebrow. Something about the way Ichigo greeted him irked him. The next thing Ichigo did really put Naruto's suspicious on high alert… He smiled! "It's nice seeing you, Naruto-san."

The man that stood before the blond wasn't Ichigo. Naruto knew it. He may not have known Ichigo for very long but he does know the soaking bastard wouldn't ever smile at him. Ever. Period! Naruto pointed angrily at Ichigo, "Who are you!?" He demanded, receiving worried looks from Yuzu and Karin in the process. He pretended not to notice.

Ichigo raised an eyebrow, "It's me, Naruto. I'm Ichigo-."

"Shut up!" Naruto shouted with sheer venom in his voice. "Ichigo would never smile at me like a queer. You're not him and you never will be! Now tell me who you are before I beat the shit out of you!"

Karin smirked. As much as Naruto would deny it, Ichigo was starting to grow on him. The blond already knew the quirks about what made Ichigo… Well, Ichigo. And as such couldn't believe Ichigo was Ichigo when Ichigo was acting differently. Man that was a mouth full.

Ichigo growled, "Look. I'm just trying to be nice to you for once. Now, could you kindly move out of the way-." That was all Ichigo could let out before he felt a set of solid knuckles slam into his cheek so hard it made him fall flat on his backside. Ichigo looked up at the blond who had his fist extended out and his eyes overshadowed by the bangs of his hair, "You bastard!"

Karin and Yuzu gasped at Naruto's assault on Ichigo, "Naruto/Naruto-kun!"

Naruto smirked upon seeing the reaction on Ichigo's face, "There's the-Ichigo I know. How've you been buddy?" He inquired in a cheery way. "No hard feelings about the punch, right?"

Ichigo scowled as he wiped the blood off of the corner of his mouth, "I'll show you hard feelings!" He yelled as he flipped himself onto his feet and launched himself at Naruto, fist cocked back, intending to return the punch Naruto gave him.

Naruto calmly stepped to the side, allowing Ichigo to miss his face by inches. Ichigo coughed up blood when he felt a hard, thunderous strike buried into his gut. He could feel his bones snapping under the immense pressure Naruto used to strike him with.

Naruto slickly removed his hand from Ichigo's gut, permitting Ichigo to collapse onto his knees, clutching his ribs. Naruto coolly wiped his nose with his thumb and smirked at Ichigo, "Too easy, you really need to train, even Ryosuke put up a tougher fight than that."

"Naruto!" Yuzu and Karin simultaneously shouted at Naruto, making the blond wince from the noise that penetrated his ears heavily. Yuzu continued. "You shouldn't be so mean to onii-chan. He's going through a rough time now."

Naruto looked at a glaring Karin and then into Yuzu's puppy dog eyes, and felt a little regret for laying out Ichigo, even know he deserved it for acting like someone who was down on their luck. The blond always hated soakers. Naruto folded his arms behind his head and turned his collective gaze towards Ichigo. Naruto only became more exasperated because Ichigo had another dejected look on his face.

A warning glare from Karin told Naruto not to attack Ichigo again. Naruto nervously complied.

Ichigo steadily stood up to his feet just as the sound of sandals hitting the ground with a thud made Naruto, Yuzu, and Karin turned their heads to the newcomer's presence.

Naruto was the only one out of the three students whom attend Karakura middle school who recognized her, "Hey Rukia." He greeted and Karin and Yuzu both raised delicate eyebrows at him. "What? She goes to school with Ichigo." Naruto lied. He didn't want to tell Yuzu and Karin about the fact that he and their brother Ichigo were (are) death gods that fight evil spirits called hollows, vanquish them to heaven or hell, depending on the deeds the hollow committed in life, and help the wandering spirits pass onto heaven just to add the icing on the cake. Because that doesn't sound crazy! Yeah right! They'd never believe him.

Rukia greeted Naruto intellectually, "It's a pleasure to see you Naruto-san." Naruto smiled at her, earning himself glares from both Karin and Yuzu. Rukia only sweat-dropped at the frowning girls before turning to Ichigo, "Come on Ichigo, it's time we resume with your occupation." She began dragging Ichigo away before he could protest.

Naruto, Yuzu, and Karin all blinked before saying, "That was weird." They then shared glances at each other upon realizing they'd said the same thing before shrugging and continuing on their way to school.

xXx

(With Rukia and Ichigo)

xXx

Ichigo became fed up of being dragged about by the shorter woman and forcefully removed his arm from her, "Why the hell did you pull me away for?"

Rukia gave him a deadpan look, "Well seeing as Naruto-san kicked your ass again I thought you'd be grateful to me for pulling you away from him."

Ichigo turned away from Rukia and growled, "It's not like that damn it! He just got lucky that's all!"

Rukia's nonchalant attitude was really beginning to grind on Ichigo's nerves before the inexperienced shinigami spoke-up, "Well in any case I've bought you something that'll transform you into a shinigami without me having to slam my glove into your forehead. And it'll also allow you to attend school while you go and purify the wandering hollows."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow, "How in the hell is that possible?"

Rukia reached into her pocket and pulled out what looked like a packet of candy. Ichigo only gave her a deadpan look before she whacked him over his head for not letting her explain.

Rukia pulled out a little green ball from the packet, "This is soul candy. It'll place a substitute soul in your body while you go off and purify hollows and perform konso on the wandering spirits."

Rukia handed Ichigo the soul pill and he looked at sceptically, "I guess there's only one way to find out if this thing works or not." When he got an elbow into his side from Rukia, he got a tick mark on his head before swallowing the pill. Ichigo's soul form spouted from his physical body, and his body didn't fall limb to the floor, but instead had a dark expression on its face. "Whoa, it worked!" Ichigo said, amazed that his body could stand without him in it.

Rukia kept her face emotionless, not surprised in the slightest, "Give it a command so we can head off and do your job as a shinigami." Rukia glanced at her bracelet. She knew Ichigo would've to get way stronger to stand a chance of being on Susumu's level.

Ichigo got another tick mark on his head, "Hruggh. Alright, already," Rukia smirked at the scowling Ichigo. Ichigo turned to his body. "Um… Go to school… Me," He commanded, feeling slightly awkward that he was telling his body what to do.

The fake-Ichigo nodded intently as he let out a mischievous laugh that totally didn't sound crazy. Yep! It was cool because Ichigo shrugged it off and left with Rukia to purify the hollows around Karakura town. The fake-Ichigo had gleams in his eyes, "Now, its time for me to get my one true desire!" He yelled before sprinting off to wherever he was going to do.

XxX

(Naruto, Yuzu, and Karin)

XxX

Karin and Yuzu had questioned Naruto on why he wasn't in his school uniform, to which the blond simply shrugged and told them that his uniform was in the wash. Both girls also shrugged, satisfied with Naruto's reason for not wearing his school uniform. It wasn't like they were telling Naruto what to wear; it was just that they cared too much for Naruto to see him in trouble with the teachers for not wearing his school uniform.

The blond brushed off their touching concerns, and stated confidently that he'd be okay, even if he wasn't wearing his school uniform. But then Naruto remembered Doctor Scar, who he hadn't seen since the fight that occurred between them (prior) three weeks ago. The girls had told him he came back to school the time when Naruto wasn't present, but then left once again due to the black eye he received from Naruto.

Yuzu voiced her concerns once more; she knew Mr S would be back in school today because Mr Harou informed the school of his return a week ago. And with every step they took, to which brought them closer to their destination, Yuzu's anxiety only increased more. She could feel her breathing becoming heavier, her heart beating against her chest as if it wanted to burst out.

Mr S would want to kill Naruto, there would be no denying that after the humiliating beat down the blond gave him. He couldn't even stay in school three days after his resounding defeat at the hands of Naruto. That would be enough reason to want to destroy Naruto the very next time he saw him.

The sun light assaulted Yuzu's eyes and made her cover her eyes with her arm. Yuzu's eyes widened, they'd reached their desired target before she even knew it. Yuzu glanced at her sister Karin, who wasn't doing too well herself. Karin had the same doubts about a possible confrontation between Naruto and Mr S as Yuzu herself did. And the fact that Naruto was happily humming to himself didn't do anything to reassure them that everything would be A-Okay.

Before Karin or Yuzu knew what was happening, they'd strolled straight into the school. The corridors were deserted, not a single kid could be seen in sight. An old fashion gust ball of wind passed through the hallways, as if it was an old western film.

A chilling voice brought them to a halt and made Naruto narrow his eyes, "Uzumaki Naruto, Kurosaki Karin, and Kurosaki Yuzu." The voice didn't sound pleasant. It sounded smooth and malicious. "You're late." A very familiar person walked in front of them, stopping them from going any further. And he towered over them with his menacing presence and eyes that were covered by black sunglasses.

Naruto let a feral smirk spread across his face effortlessly, "Been a long time, Doctor Scar-teme." Naruto greeted and Karin and Yuzu hid behind him. "How've ya been, eh? I heard you've been feeling butt-hurt after the little beating a certain blond kid handed you." Naruto taunted.

Mr S let out a scoff, "Foolish boy. You really think so high and mighty of yourself just because of a lucky win, huh?" Mr S reached for his sunglasses, and in a flash of speed his glasses were thrown off of his face. They may've seen once before, but Yuzu and Karin still gasped. There was a huge black lump covering the whole of Mr S' right eye. "You did this to me… boy!" He involuntarily snarled as he angrily pointed at his eye. "You know how embarrassed I felt knowing I received _this_ by the hands of a snot nose brat!"

Naruto chuckled in amusement, "You're such a little bitch." He stated and Karin and Yuzu stared blankly at Naruto, the blond didn't seem the least bit fazed by the presence of Mr S. "So, are you just going to stand there, trying to play a hopeless game of good cop, bad cop? Or are you going to move out of the way and let us pass?"

Mr S laughed darkly at Naruto's bravely. Karin and Yuzu instinctually gripped Naruto's arms and made sure to stay behind his back; as if Naruto was the wall between them and Mr S. "You're not wearing your uniform, Uzumaki Naruto." Mr S noted and Naruto shrugged. "…I see." The malevolent feel around Mr S increased hundred folds over, "Well Uzumaki Naruto, that just means I can have you expelled now, you've caused too much trouble as it is. It's all on your permanent records."

Naruto held up a hand to halt Mr S' progress, "I have a note ya' fool." Naruto whipped out the note his grandma wrote for him, clarifying why he didn't have his uniform on. "See!"

Mr S hummed, "Let's see then."

"Ok," Naruto handed Mr S the note without thinking.

"Naruto, you idiot!" Karin scolded the blond for his naivety.

The blond looked at Karin curiously. The sound of paper being torn made Naruto turned his head back at Mr S. Pieces of little papers were scattering across Naruto's shocked face.

Mr S laughed in a sinister manner, "You stupid boy." Mr S held up a finger matter-of-factly, "Rule number one: never trust your emeries." Naruto angrily snarled at Mr S, "Now, you're at my mercy."

Naruto fought back, "The hell I am," He made a rush attempt at Mr S but Yuzu and Karin held him back.

"Naruto no," Karin pleaded. "You'll get yourself kicked out of school if you attack him." Yuzu hummed in agreement with her sister.

Mr S chuckled evilly, "Listen to your girls, boy!" Mr S sneered, making Karin and Yuzu blush furiously at being called Naruto's girls. "Now, be a good little boy and start calling me 'Mr S-sama'. Or I will get you kicked out so fast your grandma will feel it." Now Mr S was trash-talking Naruto's grandma. That was just taking the piss.

Naruto clenched his fists so hard Karin and Yuzu were left stunned when blood began leaking from Naruto's hand. The sound of Naruto gritting his sharp razor-like wolf fangs penetrated Karin and Yuzu's ears.

Mr S raised an eyebrow, 'Is this kid a monster? How are his teeth so sharp, almost like a wol-,' He was brought out of his thoughts when Naruto began to speak.

"Alright Doc-. I mean Mr S." Mr S shook his head chidingly. Naruto swore under his breath. "I mean Mr S-." Mr S could practically feel his excitement bubbling up inside of him. He was about to be called "sama" by the most delinquent kid in school. Happy days!

Mr S' vision then blacked out from a hard blow being delivered to his left eye devastatingly, "Aaaaaaaah!" Mr S screamed excruciatingly as he was forced on a spiralling ride down the hallway before he slammed so hard against the wall it rendered him unconscious in a bloody mess

Yuzu's and Karin's jaws were hitting the ground and their eyes were bulging out of their heads. Naruto, at a speed no one could match, slammed his fist into Mr S' eye just as he was about to add the sama-suffix to his name. "Naruto-kun, what have you done? You'll be in serious trouble now, surely." Yuzu exclaimed in a near panic.

Naruto huffed indignantly, "Na, don't worry about it Yuzu-chan. Everything will be okay. Doctor Scar-teme-." Damn it felt good to call that bastard whatever he wanted. "-Won't tell anyone, because he'll have to admit the embarrassing truth that he was defeated by a "boy" twice. The second time he was defeated with one punch!" He proudly added.

Karin thought it over, "You have a point there Naruto."

Naruto fiercely nodded, "Of course I do. Now let's hurry and get to class before someone spots us here." Naruto grabbed Yuzu's and Karin's hands and began to pull them off to class.

XxX

(With Ryosuke)

XxX

The boy knew he should be in school, but he just didn't care. Ryosuke left his mother's house dressed in his martial uniform (same one from the last chapter) walking nonchalantly around town, purposely wanting to be late for school. At least that way he could see less of Uzumaki… Just the thought of the goddamned name brought a sour taste to Ryosuke's mouth. Now he needed something to wash down the taste that appeared in his mouth.

Ryosuke coolly strolled into a fast food restaurant. "I'll take a double decker cheeseburger," The man behind the counter gave Ryosuke an expectant look. "What?" Ryosuke growled. "You're not my dad so don't give me that fucking look and get me my goddamned cheeseburger!"

The man turned around to the grill and began preparing Ryosuke's order while muttering something that sounded like, "The youths of today's generation have no manners."

Ryosuke whispered under his breath, "Bastard old man, you're lucky you're not dead!"

The cries of women drifted throughout the streets. Ryosuke shrugged his shoulders. "Sounds like Uzumaki's doing. Then again, he does have Karin and Yuzu. What more does he want, eh? It's got to be someone else then."

The man came back with a white box that'd Ryosuke's order in it. "About goddamn time too!" Ryosuke scowled. Ryosuke rudely grabbed the box with his cheeseburger in it off of the man's hands and harshly chucked the money in the old timer's face.

The old man took offense to that and went to confront Ryosuke. Ryosuke stood tall against the man, "You want beef then?" Ryosuke challenged.

The man backed off and signalled for someone else to deal with Ryosuke. A huge man suddenly appeared from the back room, walking forward with a swagger in his step. He was tall, at least twice Ryosuke's size. He had huge broad shoulders, green hair, and dark eyes. He was wearing a black vest, black trousers, and black shoes on his feet.

The intimidating man looked at the old man and then at Ryosuke, "What's up dad?" He asked the old man. "Is this punk-ass kid bothering you?" The old man frantically nodded and mentioned the man to deal with Ryosuke.

The tall man cracked his knuckles as he walked over to Ryosuke who'd a nonchalant expression on his face. "You got balls kid. You don't even look scare despite the size difference between us."

Ryosuke scoffed, "The bigger they are, the harder they fall I always say," Ryosuke exclaimed before he hammer-punched the giant man so hard it looked like his head twisted in a sickening way, when in reality the force Ryosuke packed into his punch made his whole body spin around. The old man nearly had a heart attack as he watched his son walk dazedly around the restaurant before falling unconscious on the floor of the shop. The giant man saw floating stars appearing before his closing eyes.

The old man panicked, "My son. You get out now before I call the police."

Ryosuke got a tick mark on his forehead, "Shut up," The old man flinched, "I'm going now," Ryosuke stomped out of the shop, leaving the old man to the contemplate the realization his fully grown son was knocked out by a school-boy, no less

xXx.

Ryosuke's body was budged by an orange blur. And it made him drop his cheeseburger from his hand. As Ryosuke watched his cheeseburger fall to the ground in super slow-motion, he unleashed a tremendous amount of killing intent so fierce it had stopped the angry women that were chasing the orange blur, yelling out words that sounded like: "Pervert! We'll kill you."

The women all shivered from the immense murderous aura the boy was emitting. One of the women decided to speak up but when Ryosuke turned his head towards her, she, along with the rest of the women, high-tailed it out of there. Ryosuke's eyes were filled with such intensity he could scare anyone (that's not Naruto) away.

"I will kill you… GINGER!"

xXx

(With Fake-Ichigo)

xXx

The fake-Ichigo immediately cringed. As if he'd felt someone promise to do many bad things to him once he finds him. He shook his head of such thoughts. "It's probably just my imagination." A big grin spread across fake Ichigo's face when he noticed Karakura High School, "Well, that guy with the stupid orange hair said I have to go to school, right? I might as well check out all the hot babes there while I'm at it."

The fake-Ichigo pumped his legs up and ran straight towards the school, with an overwhelming urge building up inside of him to feel the hot girls' busty cleavage, and maybe get kisses off of them just to add the icing to the cake. The fake-Ichigo felt a spill of blood leak out of his nose, just thinking about all the girls he could grope was enough to put him on cloud nine.

The fake-Ichigo held a determined look in his eyes as he picked up the pace and sprinted off like his ass was on fire in order to get what he most desired at that current time.

xXx

(Karakura High School – Classroom)

xXx

Orihime and Tatsuki had made it to class to be greeted by quite the surprise. Tatsuki's long time friend Kurosaki Ichigo wasn't present in the classroom. Tatsuki had grilled Ichigo's friends about the orange haired man's whereabouts, but for the most part they all just shrugged and remained as confused as Tatsuki was to where Ichigo could be.

Keigo did hyperactively claim that Ichigo was most probably skipping school to be with his new girlfriend, Rukia. Seeing as the raven-haired girl also wasn't present in the classroom.

Tatsuki flushed red with anger and was about to strike Keigo for such a comment, only to end up stopping herself half way once she realized Orihime didn't bat an eyelash, despite having heard from Keigo that Ichigo, the boy Orihime had a crush on, was probably skipping class to be with Rukia.

Chad and Mizuiro seemed to pick up on that sudden odd reaction from the orange-burnt haired girl. Orihime only laughed in her usual exuberant fashion, not really understanding what the fuss was about.

Tatsuki scratched her head, "Man, I wonder what got into Orihime-chan? She wasn't jealous or anything when Keigo-idiot mentioned about Ichigo-kun being with Rukia-chan."

Mizuiro wondered, "Perhaps she's fallen for someone else, maybe? It would explain a lot actually."

An image of Ryosuke flashed through Tatsuki's mind, 'No, she couldn't be falling for Ryosuke-idiot. I mean the kid's cute and all but he's surely not as cute as Ichigo-kun.' A blush instantly crept itself onto Tatsuki's face when she realized what she just thought. She froze.

Chad noticed her frozen self, "You okay Tatsuki-san?"

Tatsuki shook her head a couple of times, "Yeah, I'm fine."

Chizuru when to grope unsuspecting Orihime but stopped herself when she caught sight of a familiar orange blur approaching the school from the playground, "It's Ichigo!"

Most of the kids (Except Orihime) rushed over to the edge of the window where Chizuru was staring down at the dashing form of Ichigo.

Keigo exploded with excitement, "Whoa! Ichigo's running a marathon."

Chizuru pondered, "Why he is running so fast? You don't think he's going to attempt to jump all the way up here do you?"

Tatsuki felt a vein pop out of her cheek, "Don't be so stupid Chizuru-bitch. There's no way in hell Ichigo's jumping all the way up here." She felt her breath get trapped in her lungs when Fake Ichigo bent his legs, preparing for the jump of his life.

Mizuiro's eyes widened, "No way."

Fake Ichigo spring-boarded himself straight up into the open window of the stunned students' classroom. Tatsuki and everybody's jaws could only drop to the floor witnessing such athleticism.

Keigo admired him, "Ichigo's a beast!"

Fake-Ichigo ignored the men and eyed his prize. His mouth was watering as he glanced at the hot girls he could grope. Fake-Ichigo got a nose bleed, badly. 'Wooooo, that one has red hair, but that one has a figure-." He froze when he spotted a pair of top notch boobies just waiting to be felt. "That's my target."

Tatsuki raised an eyebrow, "Ichigo's acting… weird. He doesn't normally act so, so, so… goofy. Who the hell is this guy?"

Before anyone could answer Tatsuki's question, Fake-Ichigo jumped over their heads at a speed that no one could match. Everybody stared wide-eyed at what happened next.

Fake-Ichigo (or Ichigo to most of them) was next to Orihime stroking her hair and caressing her cleavage, "You're the one for me. Please don't ever leave my side." Fake Ichigo cooed out as he continued to grope Orihime. Orihime had a confused expression on her beautiful innocent face.

Tatsuki and Chizuru flushed red with anger, "Ichigo you jerk!" Tatsuki yelled as she pulled Fake-Ichigo away from Orihime. She never thought she'd ever have to do that.

Chizuru decided to add in her own input righteously, "Yeah. Only I'm allowed to touch my sweet hime."

Tatsuki growled, "Shut the hell up Chizuru-bitch! Or I'll come for you next!" She declared and Chizuru ducked underneath a table while shaking in fear.

While all the commotion was going on, the other students simply stared blankly at Tatsuki pulling what they thought was Ichigo away from Orihime. Chad was sure that definitely wasn't his friend Ichigo.

Keigo scratched his head, "I feel cold."

Mizuiro felt the same odd sensation as Keigo, "Yeah, I do too."

Fake-Ichigo stopped squirming around in Tatsuki's grip when a tremendous amount of killing intent suddenly washed over the classroom. His eyes widened as he felt a cold shiver run up his spine. "W-What the hell? W-Who's d-doing this?"

Everyone in the classroom (except Orihime and Tatsuki) froze in place. It was such a murderous aura that threatened to wipe out every single one of them if it didn't get its target.

Chad felt a bead of sweat roll off the side of his cheek, 'I feel like I can't breath under this intense pressure. What is it? Who could possibly have the influence to scare the entire class?"

Tatsuki wondered, "Why is everyone breathing so hard all of a sudden?"

Orihime felt the same sense of protection she felt only the other day ago. She turned her head towards the door, resulting in a huge smile forming across her face once she seen just who she'd wanted to see the moment she woke up, "Kagoshima-kun!" Orihime dashed off towards Ryosuke, and everyone (barring Tatsuki) fell to their knees when Ryosuke let his killing intent dissipate.

A student panted heavily and pointed a shakily finger at Ryosuke, "Who's that?"

Orihime stood in front of Ryosuke with her arms behind her back. A big smile plastered across her face, "How are you today, Kagoshima-kun. I missed you."

Ryosuke looked at Orihime before an exasperated sigh escaped his lips, "It's only been a day since we've last seen each other."

Orihime giggled, "Kagoshima-kun." She softy says and Ryosuke smiled softly at her.

Realization began to sink into the other students' heads. Ryo spoke up, voicing everyone's thoughts, "I do believe Orihime's going out with that cute boy."

Chizuru's face turned red with anger as she flung herself up from underneath the desk, immediately forgetting about the effects of Ryosuke's murderous aura, "Nooooo. No one can take away my sweet hime!"

"Eh?" Ryosuke inquired as he turned his head to face Chizuru with an appraising eye, "You say something little girl?" His face darkened and his eyes were filled with such intensity, as daring Chizuru to do something in response.

Chizuru quivered, "I-I-I," she stammered as she steadily back further away from the monster that was Ryosuke, "I-I'm s-sorry. S-She's y-yours!" Chizuru reluctantly admitted defeat so Ryosuke wouldn't kill her.

Chad assessed Ryosuke, 'This kid. He has such a menacingly aura that he consistently aims at anyone that challenges him. However, he turns off said aura when around Orihime-san.'

Just like Chad thought Ryosuke allowed his killing intent to disappear as he turned back to Orihime. "Okay, what was I doing again?" He wondered and everyone (except Orihime) face palmed themselves, "Oh yeah. I remember." His face once again turned dark as he began to march over to Fake-Ichigo.

Fake-Ichigo cringed, "Wait, wait. I'm not who you think I am."

Ryosuke cracked his knuckles, "Maybe so. However, you did do something that has me damn right pissed off right now." Chad blocked Ryosuke's path to Fake-Ichigo. In case the quivering man was his friend that was maybe on drugs or something. "Move it big man!" Ryosuke demanded as he budged straight into Chad's arm, forcing the giant school boy to bounce off of him and fall onto the ground with a thud.

Keigo and Mizuiro's eyes widened at Ryosuke's strength. Tatsuki scolded Ryosuke, "Ryosuke-idiot!"

Ryosuke ignored her and stood in front of a frightened Fake-Ichigo, "This is for touching Orihime." Ryosuke buried his fist straight into Fake-Ichigo's face, forcing him to skid across the classroom, knocking down the desks as he did.

Everyone gasped at Ryosuke's sheer brutality on Fake Ichigo. Tatsuki voiced her concerns, "Ryosuke! Stop it. He's had enough!"

Ryosuke snarled tremendously, showing an unmerciful side as he stared down at the battered Fake-Ichigo, "Whatever, you saw what he did to Orihime, a man of honour like myself just can't let that slide, you know." He missed the blush that crept onto Orihime's face from his overprotectiveness of her. "Secondly," He started before his shadow loomed over Fake Ichigo's body. "He cost me my burger, goddamn it! For that, this bitch has it coming!"

Everyone present in the classroom all sweat-dropped. Keigo was the first one to speak up, "He's even crazier than me."

Ryosuke got a tick mark on his head, "Shut up, or do you want a piece of me, huh? Do ya punk?"

Keigo screamed like a little girl, "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! No thank you!"

Ryosuke scoffed, "Thought not." Fake-Ichigo saw his chance for escape and tried to take it, "Oh no, you don't." Ryosuke immediately stabbed his arm out to the side just as Fake-Ichigo crossed his path. Fake-Ichigo collided with Ryosuke's arm and done a complete flip before landing painfully on his back. "Pathetic. Your energy's nothing like Ginger's. He would've been more of a challenge than you. Ya weak ass bitch." Ryosuke picked Fake-Ichigo off of the ground and flung him over his back like a backpack. "I'll take you to Urahara, see if he knows anything about you."

Tatsuki squeezed Ryosuke's arm, "What the hell did you do to him? And more importantly, why are you even here Ryosuke-idiot." The other students thought Tatsuki was brave to be speaking to Ryosuke like that.

Ryosuke removed his arm from Tatsuki's grip, "I just said. Why do I must repeat myself for a woman?" He bellowed in a deep, dark tone of voice. "I'm here because this bitch cost me my burger. I don't know who he is, but it's obvious to me he's not Ginger. Not even close."

Tatsuki pondered, "Ginger? You mean Ichigo, Right?" A firm nod from Ryosuke was all she got as an answer.

Ryosuke moved towards the door and stopped by Orihime.

"Thanks for coming to see me Kagoshima-kun. I hope you can come around later, I'll make you my speciality." She offered with a smile.

Ryosuke smiled, "Yeah, I'd like that." With that said Ryosuke coolly walked out of the classroom, leaving a battered Chad, a ton of toppled over desks, a bunch of stunned students, and a red-faced Orihime behind, taking nothing but a screaming Fake-Ichigo with him.

Orihime sighed sadly, "Aaaah, Kagoshima-kun." Before Orihime knew what was happening, the girls of the classroom immediately began showering her with questions.

"Orihime are you going out with the new kid?"

"What's he like?"

"He's so mysterious!"

"…And handsome!"

"Is he taken!?"

Orihime blushed ferociously from all of the questions she was receiving at such a rapid pace. "Kagoshima-kun and I are just friends."

Tatsuki sighed, "What a mess." Tatsuki helped Chad to his feet with force put into it, "… Are you alright Chad-san?"

Chad hummed as he held his bruised arm. "Yeah. Things just keep on getting crazier by the minute though." Tatsuki had to nod in agreement with the big man.


	10. Honour, Pride, and Two Badass Kids

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or Naruto. ]  
**

* * *

**Chapter Ten **

**Honour, Pride and Two Badass Kids**

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. That was pretty much the routine Ichigo had taken after leaving his body in the "capable" hands of the substitute soul. So many spirit particles scattered to the winds, Ichigo had lost count how many hollow he purified. He felt awkward as the many spirits that he touched with the heel of his sword/Zanpakuto vanished before his eyes, but not before showering him with their many thanks.

At the same time, Ichigo felt pride; pride that he was doing well in purifying the rampaging beasts, and sending the wandering ghosts to the heavenly peace known as the Soul Society.

Rukia kept her face impassive as she stood watch by the slide of the park she lead Ichigo to, "And that makes ten." Rukia commented as tiny white particles sprinkled passed Ichigo's face. "You're getting stronger with each passing day," she complimented and Ichigo smirked. "However," Ichigo smirk begun to drop off his face, "Your reaction time is still a tad slow, at this rate Ryosuke-san could cut you to pieces in a matter of seconds."

Ichigo had a full blow scowl on his face, "Whatever." Ichigo hoisted his huge broadsword onto his shoulder and looked at the smaller woman with a piecing glare. "Why the hell are you forcing me to do this shit for anyway? Surely Ryosuke can't be any better then me!"

Rukia crossed her arms over her chest and returned the glare Ichigo's way, "Don't be so sure Ichigo. Ryosuke-san fights with two swords, meaning he'll be able to defend and attack at the same time, giving him a slight advantage over you. And Naruto-"

"Alright already… Damn it!" Ichigo sharply cut off Rukia. The orange haired man despises Naruto, and can't come to terms that his sisters love him. "Stupid kid," Ichigo grumbled.

Rukia shook her head, deciding to leave it at that. "Anyway-" She started before being cut off by the sound of bunny rabbits hopping in the distance.

Ichigo wondered, "What the hell is that?" Rukia reached into her shirt-pocket and pulled out what looked like a small cell phone. Ichigo raised an eyebrow, "When'd you get that? Wait? How'd you even know phones existed?"

Rukia was an odd girl if nothing else. Ichigo learned this from the few weeks he had spent with the short-petite woman. She had no general knowledge what so ever. She was so dense she didn't even know how to open up a carton of juice until Ichigo showed her how to. Even to that day, Ichigo wasn't sure if Rukia had "mastered" how to shove the straw into the juice box.

Rukia held up her black Samsung phone, showing Ichigo a picture of her, Orihime, Tatsuki, Ryo, Reiko and Noemi on the front screen. However the caller I.D. only made Ichigo growl out…"Ryosuke."

Rukia glanced at her phone with a nonchalant expression on her face, "Eh. What do you know, it is Ryosuke-san." A couple of weeks ago, Orihime had thought it was a brilliant idea that they all stayed in touch with Rukia. And bought Rukia a new phone out of the kindness of her heart, (Although, Ryosuke did reluctantly help pay for it.) Orihime had put everyone's numbers in Rukia's phone, including putting Rukia's number in Ryosuke's. That exasperated Ryosuke at first, as he didn't see the point of having Rukia's number.

Until now…. Apparently.

* * *

**20 minutes before then. Karakura High School with Ryosuke and Fake Ichigo**

Ryosuke marched through the halls of Karakura High School with Fake Ichigo flung over his back. The brown haired boy felt exasperated as hell because the imposter orange haired man wouldn't stop squirming and screaming like a little bitch. Lord have mercy on this poor fool's soul after Ryosuke gets through with him.

After vicious students showed their faces from the doors of the classrooms Ryosuke passed, the silver eyed boy decided enough was enough. As soon as he reached the stairs he pulled Fake Ichigo off of his back and pressed him against the wall, keeping his head firmly around the coward's throat. "If you don't shut the hell up I swear I'll make you shut up! And you don't want to know what I'll do to you! PUNK!"

Fake Ichigo gulped nervously and immediately stopped trying to pry the shorter boy's grip off of his borrowed throat. Ryosuke was too strong for him. "I-I'm s-sorry. I d-didn't m-mean t-to t-touch y-your g-girlfriend." He stammered.

Unfortunately for the imposter, that only made Ryosuke irritated. The brown haired boy's eyes narrowed dangerously at fake Ichigo and he instantly buried his fist straight into his gut. Fake Ichigo gagged for air as saliva flew out of his mouth.

"She's not my girlfriend!"

"But you're so overprotective of her"

"So what?"

"S-so I-it's l-like y-you l-like her"

Ryosuke blushed. "N-No it doesn't"

Fake Ichigo smirked slyly, "I think it does. Admit it already! Honestly, if I were you I'd be banging that chick from here to next week! All day everyday-" Another gut-winding punch silenced fake Ichigo and made him cough up blood from the force of the impact. Luckily he spat it on the floor, "I'm sorry, I'll be good now."

Ryosuke scoffed as he slickly removed his fist from Fake Ichigo's body. "Whatever." He said before releasing Fake Ichigo from the grip he had on him. Fake Ichigo fell to his knees and clutched his gut. "Do you have a name?"

The Fake Ichigo would've looked astounded; if not for the fact Ryosuke might've broken a few of his ribs. So with one eye shut, the imposter Ichigo weakly replied, "It's Kon." When he saw the expectant look on Ryosuke's face, he knew he'd to stand up to his feet. And he did just that. "So, what's your name?" He hesitantly asked. The brown haired boy didn't look like the kind of kid you'd want to mess with.

The typical middle school delinquent with a man's physique, which was what Kon assessed Ryosuke as.

Ryosuke gave him a dry look, "You know my name already. Don't make me repeat myself." Kon stared blankly at Ryosuke, making the boy sigh heavily, "I said, don't make me repeat myself! Or I will murder you!"

Kon quivered, "I a-am s-sorry Kagoshima-kun" He blurted out. Kon had remembered in his hast that Ryosuke's "girlfriend" had referred to him by the name Kagoshima-kun just before the boy dragged him out of the classroom.

Ryosuke's eyes glowed and flickered between silver and a slight gold color, "Don't call me 'kun'!" He growled more loudly then he wanted, making Kon pale. "Just call me Ryosuke. Alright! The name's Kagoshima Ryosuke, not that it matters to you."

Kon felt like he almost had a heart attack. This kid, Ryosuke, was one cold heartened guy. And yet, he seemed so warm and calm when around the orange haired girl. Weird. "Okay. Ryosuke."

Ryosuke nodded as he moved passed Kon. "Come on, let's get moving." Ryosuke gestured Kon to follow him with his hand. And seeing as Ryosuke was twice as fast and far more powerful then him, Kon easily obliged without any argument.

The two walked on in silence, fortunately not passing any teachers on their way outside of the campus. Kon was undoubted nervous. He knew where Ryosuke was taking him, and knew of the fate that surely would await him. The substitute soul began sweating bullets, cursing his luck.

Why him? Why'd he have to be "dealt" with because he was deemed ineffective? Doesn't he have rights? Where are his rights then? Kon rightly believed with all his artificial soul and heart that he should be treated equally like everyone else.

'It's not fair' Kon thought as his eyes became dejected. He didn't realized where he and Ryosuke had strolled into until motoring sounds penetrated his ears, making his eyes snap open. 'We're on the pavement near the neighbourhood.' Kon's eyes searched aimlessly around his and Ryosuke's surroundings.

Kon's eyes widened upon seeing two little children playing harmlessly on a grassy area a few feet from where he and Ryosuke were. A shadowy figurer was looming over the two children, with a gleam in its eye. 'Hollow!' Kon stressed. He knew he had to do something; he couldn't and/or wouldn't let those innocent kids die by the hands of the monster. 'I've got to save them.' Kon was held in place by a tight grip on the scruff of his shirt.

"Calm down." Ryosuke said calmly as he kept a firm hold on Kon's shirt and looked over to the hollow that was just inches away from the two children.

Kon looked over his shoulder at Ryosuke and shot him a hatful glare, "How can I calm down!" The anger in his voice surprised Ryosuke to the point that the brown haired boy almost let go of his shirt, but he held on tight and lifted him off of the ground. "That hollow's going to kill those children! I have to save them-"

"Shut up!" Ryosuke cut off Kon with sheer venom in his voice. "What good are you going to be, huh? You'll just be an appetizer for that hollow."

Kon gulped down his fear and tried to launch a sneaky elbow attack at Ryosuke, hoping to escape the hold he was supplying to him so he could rescue those children. Unfortunately, Ryosuke, while keeping his face impassive, caught Kon's elbow in a flat open palm. "I can't let those kids die! Even if it cost me my life, I'll protect them no matter what!"

Ryosuke exasperatedly rubbed the bridge of his nose as he slammed Kon hard onto his backside. And then stabbed his hand into his pocket and pulled out his soul bridge out of it. "Just shut up… and let me deal with this." Kon looked confused before Ryosuke pressed his soul bridge into his chest, and released his soul form from his physical body.

"You're a shinigami!" Kon shouted. He was slightly taken aback, because it did somewhat explain Ryosuke's abnormal strength. Kids his age shouldn't be that strong.

Kon assessed Ryosuke's shinigami form, "I see now. With two swords, that hollow should be nothing to you."

Ryosuke didn't listen to him, but instead chose to crouch down and place the palm of his hand onto the tip of his green hilted Zanpakuto. Time seemed to slow down as the hollow now loomed over the unsuspecting children happily playing among themselves. Kon gulped while Ryosuke's green hilted Zanpakuto glowed a fantastic-shiny green color.

"**Kaze Rirīsu: Suichoku sutoraiki (Wind release: Vertical strike)!" **Ryosuke called out and in one blinding, ultra fast motion, a tremendously powerful horizontally-like knife wind was fired by Ryosuke. The wind strike torn the hollow to pieces and blew the spirit particles of the decease hollow before the unknowing children's eyes. "Done," Ryosuke said as he calmly sheathed his Zanpakuto.

Kon's eyes widened. The mob soul in Ichigo's body failed to catch even a glimpse of the speedy move Ryosuke had used to obliterate that hollow as if it were nothing to him. "Wow…" Was all Kon could say. "You're amazing!" Okay, so maybe he'd a little more to say after all. But hey, after what Ryosuke just did, can you blame him?

Ryosuke ignored him as he favorited staring at the palm of his hand. "It's still not enough. I'm still not strong enough to beat Uzumaki." He murmured and caught Kon's attention. "Don't worry about it." There was no way Ryosuke would tell Kon he's second to Uzumaki. Changing the subject, Ryosuke inquired, "Why'd you want to help those children so badly for?" It was a simple enough question. After all, Kon could've just left it to Ryosuke from the beginning instead of trying to run off to play the hero. Ryosuke hated wannabes heroes. He despised any sort of heroism.

Kon shifted uncomfortably for a second before he diverted his vision from Ryosuke. "I just don't like to see others die, that's all." No, there must be something else that Kon wasn't telling him. Ryosuke just knew it.

"Can you elaborate a bit for me?" Ryosuke asked, surprisingly none aggressively. Kon would've figured the brown haired boy would've relentlessly beaten the stuffing out of him until he told him what he wanted to hear.

"Well." Kon started, feeling anxious about revealing who he really is to Ryosuke. "It's because I'm a… Mod soul," Kon admitted with a cough of his voice. When he saw the look of confusion on Ryosuke's face, he knew he'd to go into more depth about himself. "Mob souls only come around every now and again. Normally substitute souls aren't supposed to have their own free will, but we do." He sighed melancholy before continuing, "And apparently that's a bad thing, because we were all marked as 'defective', and was set to be destroyed."

At that point Ryosuke could feel a burning hatred fuel up inside of him. Who do these bastards think they were, huh? Kon's a living thing just like any other human being, Ryosuke was positive of that. The mod soul could walk, talk and think for himself; hence why he tried to grope Orihime, and of course Ryosuke was still pissed about that.

However, he made a gesture with his hand telling Kon to finish his tale when he had saw that Kon had stop talking, most likely due to the fact Ryosuke trailed off when Kon revealed that his kind were to be eradicated just because they were different no less.

"I managed to survive after being thrown into the wild end. It was there I saw my follow mob souls all die before my eyes, and-"

"And now you're all alone, and that's why you can't just let others die." Kon looked shocked that Ryosuke was able to take in all that without any problem. "Ahhhh," Ryosuke scratched the back of his head. "Where's their honour? Don't they have any pride?"

Kon only nodded dumbly, he wasn't surprised by Ryosuke's talk of honour and pride after the way the silver eyed school-boy had dealt with him in class after he touched Orihime. Who Kon still believes is Ryosuke's girlfriend, but would keep that to himself.

"Don't worry, I-" Ryosuke began to explain before being cut off by the sound of a timid voice.

"Kagoshima-kun." And Kon raised an eyebrow. Another girl called him Kagoshima-kun.

Turning their heads to look at the source of the voice, Ryosuke wasn't all that surprised to find the Urahara crew all strolling towards them. He had figured Kisuke had something to do with Kon's existence in the first place.

Ryosuke waved his hand at Ururu, "Hey Ururu, how are you?"

Ururu smiled brightly, "I'm fine thank you for asking. And Jinta-kun's feeling okay too." She happily pointed to the red headed boy, and Jinta nervously nodded at Ryosuke.

Ryosuke merely spared him a glance before coldly replying, "That's good then."

Tessai pointed to Kon and Kisuke casually walked in front of the artificial Mod Soul with his usual big grin on his face, "Well hello there Mod soul-san." Kon looked disconcerted. "Out you go." Kisuke pressed the heel of his cane straight into the forehead of Ichigo's physical body, forcing a little green pill to fall out of Ichigo's head.

Tessai hummed. "Well that seems like a job well done. However, I believe a refund will be in order for Kuchiki-san."

Kisuke flinched. "Yeah," Shadow-Eyes despised refunds; couldn't they've been a law against refunds, huh? It's damn right criminal to return people money to them. If they're not happy with the goods they've purchased then it's their own damn fault. "Never mind," Kisuke shrugged and bent down to pick up the green pill containing Kon's soul. He froze half way when an unbearable murderous intent began leaking out of Ryosuke.

"Touch him and you die."

Ryosuke's face darkened considerably, his eyes flickered again, sending a deathly glare Kisuke's way, and an ominous dark green aura with blue outlines surrounded Ryosuke's entire body, creating a ring of stuff around his feet.

Jinta and Tessai involuntary took a step back, and uncontrollably fell to their knees, as if an invisible weight was almost thrown onto their shoulders.

"K-Kagoshima-kun," Ururu stammered, being the only one of the four not to feel the murderous aura Ryosuke was aiming at Kisuke and Tessai just case the big man tried to step in and attack him.

Kisuke gulped, "Ryosuke-ku-

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, or I will kill you." Ryosuke said in a low, smooth and sulky voice, making him sound a hundred times scarier as if he had shouted it. Kisuke nodded slowly as Ryosuke scooped up the green pill in the palm of his hand in one slick movement. "I'll be taking Kon."

Tessai wondered, "Kon?"

"It's his name." Ryosuke answered in a none bullshit tone.

"Why would you want to protect Kon, Kagoshima-kun?" Ururu felt the need to inquire. She knew Ryosuke would never hurt, or even aim any sort of killing intent at her of the sort. He's simply too prideful.

Ryosuke took in a breathe of air as he closed his eyes and simply replied, "Because," Ryosuke then re-entered his physical body and put Kon into his pocket before continuing. "It's simply not right to kill a person just because they're different." Ururu didn't really understand that much, but nodded none the less.

"Ryosuke, the Soul Society set specific rules out that all mob souls must be destroyed. This Kon follow cannot be treated any different. If you choose to protect him, then you'll be making yourself an enemy of the Soul Society. Even Uzumaki-san won't be able to defeat all of the shinigami Captains of the Soul Society." Kisuke warned.

Ryosuke scoffed as he spat salvia onto the floor, showing disgust on his face. "Since when do rules matter to me or Uzumaki, eh? If these 'Captains', want a piece of me or Uzumaki then they can bring it then" He commented in a mocking voice. "After all, a man of honour doesn't walk away from any battle." He finished as a cocky smirk formed across his lips.

Kisuke shook his head as a big grin across his face. Of course the lads would want to fight the whole Soul Society; it's in their blood to do battle. True Warriors born to live, breath and dream about fighting. It's of no wonder why the two of them are such delinquents.

Ururu looked up to Ryosuke with a sweet smile on her face, "Be carful Kagoshima-kun." She warned with her arms behind her back. "I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you."

Ryosuke crouched down by Ichigo's empty body and placed his right hand on his shirt before he rose again; lifting Ichigo's lanky body like it was made out of paper; and coolly flung it over his back

Tessai and Jinta's eyes widened at Ryosuke's ridiculous show of strength. The boy just lifted a boy, who was twice his size, over his back. Making it look as easy as putting one's backpack on. Kisuke was sounded impressed by Ryosuke's power. He knew him and Naruto would go far in the world of the shinigami.

"Don't worry about me." Ryosuke exclaimed as he turned his back and began to walk away while holding Ichigo's body on his back. "I'll be fine. After all, ha-ha," He couldn't help but let out another cocky laugh. "To be the best, I have to beat the best. By the logic, I say bring it on Soul Society, send me your finest Captains so I can send them straight back with their tails between their legs." With that said Ryosuke disappeared around the corner and headed off to find Ichigo to give the orange haired man his body back.

Kisuke smiled widely as he kept his paper fan over his mouth to hide it. "That boy, I swear him and Naruto could go far if they only learn to drop the cockiness."

Tessai hummed, "Of course Urahara-dono. Kagoshima-dono and Uzumaki-dono both have tremendous potential to be the very best. I only worry for Kurosaki-dono, that this rate he'll fall well behind them if he doesn't train accordingly."

Kisuke nodded and spun on his heel. "I agree with you there, Tessai-san." He spoke as he walked off and gestured for his crew to follow him. "But Ichigo has great potential of his own to unlock, he just needs to take his role of a shinigami more seriously to begin tapping into that hidden energy of his." He had heard from Rukia that the lanky school-boy was pretty much an instinctual fighter, and doesn't see the need to better his skills. Such one minded thinking would only get Ichigo so far in the world of the shinigami, and Kisuke knew that for a definite fact.

"Ah, Kagoshima-kun," Ururu said dreamily. The thoughts of how powerful Ryosuke could become was exciting to the shy little girl of the mini family of Urahara Kisuke.

Jinta smirked slyly, "Someone's in love I see." Hey, if he couldn't bully Ururu then teasing her would've to do. Ryosuke didn't say anything about teasing, then its okay to do so. "Mr and Mrs Kagoshima sitting in a tree, K.I.S.S.I.N.G, first comes love then comes marriage, then comes Ryosuke and Ururu with a baby carriage."

Ururu blushed furiously and began waving her hands defensively in front of herself, "Jinta-kun it isn't like that."

Jinta folded his arms behind his head, "Yeah, yeah you keep telling yourself that princess."

Kisuke and Tessai both chuckled light-heartedly at Jinta's nursery rhyme to tease Ururu.

Kids will be kids after all.

* * *

**Walking down the street with Ryosuke**

Ryosuke had roughly walked about two minutes from where he left the Urahara crew before saying, "This is stupid." And then he pulled out a slim mobile phone with the LG Lego on it. "Argh," Ryosuke grunted, remembering when Orihime had put a certain number in his phone he wasn't sure he would ever use.

Well there's a first time for everything.

That was what Ryosuke had thought as he flipped open his phone, looked up Rukia's contract number, and hit the green dial button. "Argh," Ryosuke groaned as a picture of chappy the rabbit appeared as Rukia's calling I.D. "Who the fuck has a dumb rabbit for a caller I.D. Why'd Orihime make me put this girl's number in my phone, I'll never know." Ryosuke stopped his ranting as a polite voice echoed through his phone.

"_Hello, you've reached Kuchiki Rukia. What may I help you with?"_

Ryosuke wasn't in the mood for Rukia's fake accent. "Cut that fake accent with me, woman!" He growled loudly.

"_Charming," came _Rukia's deadpanned response. "_What do you need Ryosuke_?"

"Bitch, you better show-" Ryosuke had to remind himself Rukia's friends with Orihime, and Orihime would be upset with him if he were to upset Rukia.

Wait! Since when does Ryosuke give a damn about what Orihime thinks, eh?

Oh…. Yeah he does.

"I have Ginger's body."

* * *

**With Ichigo and Rukia.**

Ichigo practically exploded with anger when Ryosuke mentioned that he had his body in his clutches. The little bastard could break his neck and he wouldn't even know it until he got in it.

Ichigo pressed his face against Rukia's, and shouted into her mobile phone, forcing the short woman to cover her ears from the noise that penetrated her ears, "You have my body! How? It was suppose to be with the substitute soul. What happen to that?"

Ryosuke pulled the phone from his ear, and growled, "_Damn it Ginger, keep your voice down." _If Ryosuke had super vision, he would've caught glimpse of Rukia rolling her eyes. Like Ryosuke's one to talk about keeping one's voice down. _"Yeah, I have your body. Maybe next time you'll think twice about injecting a mod soul into it." _He exclaimed nonchalantly.

Rukia's eyes widened as she pushed herself from Ichigo's cheek, "A mod soul? But they were meant to be destroyed by the Soul Society!"

"What?" Was Ichigo's intelligent reply.

Rukia ignored Ichigo and decided to press onto the matter at hand. "Ryosuke do you have the mod soul now?" She could hear Ryosuke scoff over the phone, and could almost feel him rolling his eyes. "What?"

Ryosuke decided to keep the conversation short and to the point. "_Just me meet around the corner. I've grown sick of logging Ginger's weak body around like luggage." _

A tick appeared on Ichigo's forehead as he snatched Rukia's phone from her grasp and aggressively shoved it onto his ear, "Who are you calling weak you little bastard!"

"_Just meet me around the damn corner on saint Matthews street so you can take your body back." _Ryosuke yelled back and not wanting to continue the conversation further, Ryosuke abruptly hung up the call.

Ichigo fumed as he looked at the phone with a twitching eyebrow, "Little bastard."

Rukia was deep in thought, going over the conversation she'd with Ryosuke. "A mod soul? How'd one even managed to survive?" Ichigo heard her muttering and stopped his rant.

"What's the big deal about these mod souls?" He asked as he passed Rukia back her mobile phone, to which Rukia placed it back into her shirt pocket. "I mean why do these, "Soul Society guys" feel the need to destroy them all. It seems pretty heartless."

Rukia calmly walked passed Ichigo and started making her way towards Ryosuke's location. And Ichigo followed her, "That doesn't matter Ichigo. It was the order of the Soul Society's Head-Captain that all mod Souls must be annihilated. And we, the loyal followers of the Head-Captain, must obliged by his rules, or else."

Ichigo was caught off guard by the sternness evident in her voice as they began to quicker their pace, not wanting to keep the grouchy, arrogant, cheeky rude-boy known as Ryosuke waiting. As they edged closer towards Ryosuke's location, Ichigo allowed his thoughts to dwell on the fate of the Mods Souls, and how they must feel.

"_I wonder how he feels."_

"_On the run,"_

"_Always alone,"_

"_Doesn't have a body,"_

"_But now he found a body, in mine. But yet, he was still caught."_

These were the thoughts of Ichigo. As soon as he finished his last thought, he and Rukia caught sight of a familiar looking school-boy, wearing a black martial blazer jacket with gold buttons on it, walking forward with a scowl on his face, a swagger in his step, and a hand over his shoulder.

"Ryosuke!" Both Rukia and Ichigo shouted simultaneously as they picked up the pace to reach Ryosuke.

Once both Rukia and Ichigo were within touching of Ryosuke, the brown haired boy let out an amused chuckled. "Wow! You two got here fast enough. Hehe, at least you know your place in line."

Rukia decided to ignore his attitude and get straight to business, "Where's the Mod Soul Ryosuke." When Ichigo coughed into his throat, Rukia continued. "And where's Ichigo's body?"

Ryosuke grunted as he removed his hand from behind his shoulder and held up Ichigo's lifeless physical body with the slightest of ease in doing so. He felt a strange sense of satisfaction from the astounded looks on Ichigo and Rukia's faces. Neither of them had expected Ryosuke to be able to lift a boy twice his size like he weighs nothing.

Ryosuke threw Ichigo's physical body straight into Ichigo, eliciting an angry "hey" from the orange haired man as he instantly fell back into his body and collided with the floor. "Whatever." Ryosuke said impassively. Ryosuke stabbed his hands into his pockets and strolled passed Rukia and the downed Ichigo, "I'll be off then."

Rukia couldn't let him go without knowing what he did to the Mod Soul. "Ryosuke wait!" She grabbed Ryosuke's arm only to stumble forward when Ryosuke nudge his arm a bit, shrugging Rukia's hand off of his arm. "What happened to the Mod Soul? Did you destroy it?" She inquired upon regaining her composure.

Ryosuke scoffed and shot Rukia a hatful glare which in returned made her gasp. But Rukia wasn't about to give this up just yet, "Ryosuke what have you done to the Mod Soul? For your sake I hope you've disposed of it probably."

"His name isn't Mod Soul." Ryosuke murmured in a chilling voice that sent shivers up Rukia's shrine and made her take an involuntary step back. "It's Kon."

Ichigo ignored the feeling of his bruised ribs and sore throat. "Kon?" Ichigo wondered as lifted himself off of the ground and held his ribs. "Wait, are you telling us you've become friends with the Mo-" Ryosuke's eyes flicked dangerously at Ichigo, telling him he better not finish that sentence without rephrasing it. "I mean Kon." Ichigo reluctantly obliged, now wasn't the time for a fight, he'd school after all. "Have you become friends with Kon?"

Ryosuke scoffed, "As if." Rukia and Ichigo gave him a puzzled look, making him sigh because he knew he would've to at least elaborate. "I have my honour, and my pride. That's all you need to know."

Ryosuke was a strange kid, Rukia was sure of that. There were times the boy seemed as cold as ice itself. And there were other times he appeared as warm as the boiling sun, but that was only when around Orihime or Ururu.

Did the silver eyed boy possibly have a soft spot for the underdogs? Because that was what the Mod Souls were? Always on the run from the law, and without even getting a chance to defend themselves; the Soul Society would kill them without mercy.

Rukia decided to risk getting her head bitten off by drilling Ryosuke for more questions. "Ryosuke… What'd Kon tell you that made you want to protect h-"

"I do things when I want, whenever I want." Ryosuke sharply cut off Rukia. "And yes, I have Kon. There's nothing to worry about." He turned his head to look at Ichigo and smirked. "Your reputation might be a little fucked up those."

"What?"

"Well let's just say Kon might've taken advantage of Orihime if I hadn't beaten the shit out of him." He smugly replied.

"What! That little bastard! No wonder my ribs felt sore when I jumped into my body." Ichigo heatedly glared at Ryosuke, which only proceeded to make him smirk even more. "Aaaaaaah!" Ichigo whined. "My life's over!"

Rukia sweat-dropped as Ryosuke begun taking off down the street. "Relax Ginger, I've told Tatsuki it was an imposter. You can either leave it at that. Or get Rukia to use the memory eraser thing to wipe everyone's memory like the night when I met Orihime."

Rukia had wiped the hollow's incident cleaned out of Orihime's memory, and of course Ryosuke just had to chuckle when Orihime recalled the night he saved her. Apparently the memory eraser also replaces the lost memory with another memory; one so ridiculous it could've made someone pissed their pants from laughing so hard.

"Seriously, a sumo wrestler smashing into her apartment," Ryosuke chuckled as he remembered Orihime telling him about the event to which made him her "hero".

Ichigo gave Rukia a pleading look, eliciting a sigh out of the raven-haired girl. "Alright Ichigo, let's go erase everyone's memory." Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief. Rukia still felt the need to warn Ryosuke of the consequences, but before she could Ryosuke interrupted her,

"And I don't give a shit about the rules. If the Soul Society wants a piece of me, then I'll be waiting to send them all to hell!"

Rukia smiled and Ichigo smirked. Ryosuke was one weird kid.

* * *

**Karakura Middle School/rooftop/Naruto, Yuzu and Karin**

Was it ultimate luck? That Naruto had managed to not get expelled after damaging Mr S' left eye, leaving a splash of blood coated over the walls of the school. One could imagine rumours spread pretty quickly, and most of them were directed about Naruto.

"_I heard Naruto lost his temper and kicked Mr S' ass."_

"_I heard Mr S raped Naruto's grandma and Naruto was forced to kill him."_

"_I heard Mr S slapped Yuzu down and that's why Naruto annihilated Mr S' left eye." _

"_Naruto's a beast! Fuck teachers!"_

Naruto mentally groaned from the rumours that Yuzu and Karin's friend Kako told them were spreading around school faster then crack making people want to do insane things just get another fix.

Luckily for Naruto, the head master, Mr Harou, was a fair man, and seeing as there wasn't any security cameras that'd have proof of Naruto striking Mr S straight to the hospital, and Mr S not wanting to reveal Naruto had hit him in the first place in fear his reputation as a martial artist would dissipate, Naruto was off the hook.

Thank kami for the school low budget and Mr S' pride.

Yuzu was sitting on her knees with her lunch box placed in front of her, "Okay Naruto-kun, you've got away with that one so now you should be on your best behaviour." She said knowingly and Naruto groaned as he sat legged-crossed in between Karin and Yuzu.

"Yuzu-chan's right, Idiot," Karin agreed with her twin sister upon swallowing a piece of a sandwich that was in her mouth. She whacked Naruto slightly on his head and Naruto grinned his foxy grin at her.

"Yeah, you're right Yuzu-chan, Karin-chan. I'll try and be good." Naruto saluted them.

Yuzu finished the last of her sandwich and took a sip of her orange juice before saying, "I wonder where Ryosuke-san is today?"

Good question. The brown haired boy hadn't shown up for school at all; missing the first two periods that make up the morning. Usually Ryosuke would've shown up, challenged Naruto to a fight, lost said fight, and soaked for the rest of the day, muttering something like, "Lucky blond bastard."

Karin injected, "Perhaps you should phone him Naruto."

"What? No! I don't want to phone Ryosuke, I hate that teme. And he hates me too. We're rivals, not friends. There's a difference that separates rivals and friends." And blah, blah, blah, blah; It was the same mumbo jumbo Naruto and/or Ryosuke replied to them whenever Karin and/or Yuzu asked one of the lads where the other one was.

It got real tiresome… Really fast.

Karin rolled her eyes, "Rivals, friends, same thing to me. You've got Ryosuke's number, and you do hang with Ryosuke a lot, you know."

Yuzu nodded in agreement with Karin. "Yeah, and let's not forget you both like playing arcade games at the Arcade."

"That's only because we're playing against each other to see which one of us is better. And-"When he saw the glare Karin was sending him and the disappointed look on Yuzu's face, he knew he was beaten. So he decided to save air by choosing not to finish his sentence, "Fine!" Naruto conceded as he pulled out his phone. "I'll leave him a text then." Karin and Yuzu gave Naruto a satisfied smile as the blond wrote _"Where are you?"_ before sending his message to Ryosuke's phone.

It hadn't taken very long for Ryosuke to reply to Naruto's text message, and his reply only made Naruto irritated. "What!"

The message read, _"Fuck you, you aren't my keeper."_

Naruto fumed. "That stupid bitch, who the hell does he think he's talking to!" Naruto's fingers rapidly hit the buttons on his mobile phone, sending a reply back to Ryosuke. Naruto's reply was, _"Fuck me? Fuck you! You better watch your mouth before I find you and kick your ass like I always do!"_

He got no reply that time. And that only made his right eyebrow twitch, "Teme!"

Karin and Yuzu both let out exasperated sighs, knowing they should've foresaw that coming. The girls finished the last bits of their lunches before neatly packing their lunch boxes into their backpacks.

"Okay Naruto-kun, Karin-chan and I have to go to the library and study now. What are you going to do?" Yuzu asked as she and Karin stood up and strapped their backpacks onto their backs.

Naruto settled down and pointed his thumb towards the street. "I'm going out to grab a bite to eat before third period starts." Naruto knew he'd need something to eat. And the blond hated School meals, because he was sure the lunch lady spat in the food she prepares. That and she's ugly as all hell!

Karin shrugged. "Okay, but make sure you attend geography afterwards Naruto. You know you're already failing behind badly enough as it is." She knew Naruto loathed geography; he just couldn't seem to pay attention when the teacher tried to teach him.

Naruto rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Okay Karin-chan, Yuzu-chan. I'll attend for sure."

Yuzu blessedly smiled as she gave Naruto a tight hug. "And that's all we need to know Naruto-kun." The sunny girl gleefully rubbed her face against Naruto's, eliciting a smile out of the blond.

Karin gave Naruto a light-heartedly soft tap on his cheek with her bare knuckle. "Make sure you attend class Naruto, because we would love it if our favorite knucklehead failed a class." She sarcastically exclaimed.

The joyous blond slipped out of Yuzu's grasp and implanted a kiss on Yuzu's cheek and then on Karin's cheek, making both girls blush brightly, "Don't worry about me girls. As long as you're both in class, then I'll always show up." With that said Naruto vanished, travelling at the speed of a moving bullet.

Karin and Yuzu, both stuck in a daze that Naruto's kisses made them fall into, slowly placed the palm of their hands onto their chest, and quietly whispered, "Naruto…"

* * *

**On the high street of Karakura Town. **

Naruto appeared on the pavement with his arms folded behind his head. And ignoring the awe looks of bystanders that witnessed him blur into existence, Naruto briskly commented, "Karin-chan and Yuzu-chan love me so much. They were practically frozen with love when I kiss their cheeks. I'm such a ladies-man."

After Naruto was done fantasying about marrying Karin and Yuzu he soon strolled down the street, looking for the perfect place to grab a bite to eat before he would've to get back to school. He couldn't keep Yuzu and Karin waiting could he? No, he couldn't.

"Yo mon me had to fuck up that mon who tried running up his mouth around my hood." Naruto's eyes locked onto three tall, dark-skinned man walking towards him. The one that had spoke wore a black hat, black sunglasses, black shirt, black jacket, a gold gun-chain around his neck and black shoes on his feet.

The man on the other side wore a white tank top, black Nike tracksuit trousers and black and blue sneakers on his feet. He had neat black cornrowed hair and a scar on his left cheek. "I know what you're saying blood. But don't let it bother ya g. What I'm more concerned about is getting one them fine ass gals (girls) up in da club. They'd a bumper star."

The one in the middle was by far the largest of the three. He stood at an overbearing height of 14 ft. tall and had a huge around beer belly. He was wearing a dark blue baseball cap on backwards; a red jersey top with the number 74 printed on the middle of the shirt, black trousers and black and red Nike trainers on his feet. "Yo g I had my fair of pussy late night. Those gals were on me like wild fire."

Naruto visibly snorted at that comment. Like an obese man like that could get any "gals", he was probably only trying to look cool for the other two tall, but muscular men standing on the sides of him.

Perhaps Naruto should just kick the shit out of them, because they'd seemed to pick up on Naruto's snort when their eyes locked onto him.

Naruto kept his face impassive as he neared the gangstas. Showing absolutely no sighs of fear despite the number advantage and the massive size difference between them. Closer and closer, with every unhesitant step the blond took the gangstas could feel their blood begin to rise.

This cocky little brat was staring right at them with his eyes narrowed, as if saying he could beat the hell out of them before they even blinked.

The arrogance… And that was only confirmed once Naruto's shoulder collided with the mammoth of the man striding in the middle of the three gangstas. Apparently the man took offence to his shoulder being forced heavily to the side by a little brat, because he pivoted around and gripped the blond-boy's shoulder with his bear-like hand.

That wasn't in his best interested.

The moment his hand even so much of grasp Naruto's shoulder his hand was turned and twisted in a sickening way, eliciting a scream of terror, pain and shock, shock a little boy could possess such power! He fell to his knees and desperately tried to pry Naruto's hand off of his hand.

His friends must've thought he was just playing around because they let out amused chuckles, "Yo g what the hell are you doing? Just break the youth's hand already!"

"Aaaaaaaah!" When the obese man responded with a cackled scream both of his friends' eyes widened in debrief.

"…No way"

Naruto arose his leg and powered it directly into the man's face, forcing blood to sprawl out of his nose as he went flying backwards from the sneer magnitude of the strike.

The other two watched with wide eyes as the obese man bounced off of the ground like a basketball before lying completely unconscious, and with a pool of blood surrounding his form.

"Yo man what the fuck was that about? You're just a kid!" The scar-face man shouted. He saw Naruto's strength for himself and he still couldn't believe it.

Naruto stretched his arm back. "Whatever." He said before he buried his fist so hard into the scar-face man's stomach it looked like Naruto's arm was about to burst out of his back.

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh!" He screamed before being launched backwards, damaging the ground as his body collided with the solid concentre. His momentum stopped next to the fat-man, his body lay there unmoving, and with blood leaking out of his head

The man wearing the hat felt as if his heart was about to stop, witnessing Naruto's sneer brutality of his two friends. "Y-You're m-monster m-mon." He stammered at Naruto as he pointed a shaky finger the blonde's way.

Naruto dug out his ear with his index finger, "Yeah, I've been told that." He looked sharply into the man's eyes, making him flinch. "I like that chain you've got. I want it."

"What?"

"I want it!"

Seeing Naruto act like an immune child that couldn't get his way, the man reluctantly took his chain off and handed it to Naruto. He knew there was no way he could've probably tried to fight off Naruto's efforts to rob him, not after the way Naruto had utterly destroyed his two friends.

"C-Can I g-go m-mon, p-please? I g-gave y-you m-my c-chain."

Naruto energetically put the gun chain on, and looked at it. "Yo, this is cool man." Then he remembered what the man said. "Oh… no, you see you gave me what I wanted all too easy. I don't particularly like cowards, so I'm afraid I have to kick your ass…" The man quivered. "What I am saying? It'll be my pleasant to annihilate you, bitch."

"Aaaaaaaaaah!" The man turned around and sprinted off as fast as he could. "LEAVE ME ALONE MON!" He desperately screamed like a girl. He heard Naruto kiss his teeth so he looked over his shoulder to find he wasn't standing where he was. "What!?"

**Crash!**

His stomach crashed into something and he felt the wind escape his mouth as he slowly fell to the ground. He looked up with shaky eyes to see Naruto looming over him with the bangs of his hair overshadowing his eyes. "W-What a-are y-you?"

Naruto raised his fist above his head. "Your worst nightmare pal."

"Aaaaaaaaaah!" The man screamed before his lights blacked out and blood flew out of his face.

* * *

**On a tall building.**

The hollow Shrieker watched with a gleam in his eye as he stood on the tall bank building. It was there he could get a perfect view of Naruto without the blond noticing his presence.

"This is one fascinating kid." Isn't that the truth? The blond-boy saved little Yuichi from him, and yet would needlessly bust a new ass on three gangstas just to prove his strength! Shrieker's eyebrow most definitely raised, that boy wasn't your everyday folk hero, not by any stretch of the imagination.

Shrieker flinched when he heard the whistling sound of a Hirenkyaku coming from behind him. "Yo Shrieker, have you attacked the blond-boy yet?"

Shrieker gulped as he turned to face Goro, "Not yet Goro-san. But I'm close."

Goro injected, "There's no need to worry my hollow friend. There has been a change of plan"

Shrieker raised an eyebrow, "What?"

Goro decided to keep it brief, "Let's do say Susumu Ogre's return to the World of the Living has transpired sooner then we expected."

Shrieker's jaw dropped, "S-Susumu O-Ogre's here."

Goro smirked, "You could say that." Shrieker gave him a puzzled look, not understanding what he'd meant by that. "I need you to find me Kuchiki Rukia. She's a short girl that carries a bracelet on her wrist. That bracelet will have the name "Susumu" embedded in it. Find her and bring her to me."

Shrieker nodded, "I see, so Ogre sister's name's Rukia. But what about the blond-boy" He pointed down at Naruto.

Goro chuckled manically. "Do not worry about Naruto. I have something in store for him." Shrieker nodded as Goro was deep thought about the events that'd see a certain orange haired teen fight the battle of his life. 'Ichigo… Hehe, I wonder how you'll feel when you find out just who killed your mother, my foolish boy. And don't worry…Ryosuke. I haven't forgotten about you, my real foolish boy.' A murderous intent began leaking out of Goro, making Shrieker quiver under the immense pressure of Goro.

Naruto felt the killing intent and immediately snapped his head to meet a brown haired man's gazed. The man was smirking, a smirk that signalled monstrous intentions not only for Naruto, but for Yuzu-chan, for Karin-chan, for Strawberry and for Ryosuke-teme.

Naruto didn't know why, but for some reason he just knew he'd have a hell of a fight on his hands soon enough.

* * *

**And done. **


	11. The Speedy Cats and the Tearful Goodbye

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Bleach.**

* * *

**Chapter Eleven**

**The Speedy Cats and the Tearful Goodbye**

The blond shinigami strolled needlessly around town, allowing his mind to dwell on the brown haired man he saw only moments ago. His eyes seemed so cold and full of hate, as if he desired nothing more but to see all of humanity come to an end before his satisfied eyes.

Who was that guy? Naruto had to ponder to himself. That guy didn't seem like the type of guy you'd want to mess with, or come across in some dark alleyway. That's unless you're Naruto of course. Despite the huge wave of energy Naruto sensed from that man, it only made him more eager to challenge him to a fight. His warrior blood was coursing through his veins; he could feel it in the pit of his stomach, and the blond yearned for nothing more but to give the brown haired man a good old fashion ass beating.

"I wonder who that guy was anyway." Naruto stopped his subconscious walking to ponder the thought by placing his hand on his chin. "His eyes… they kind of remind me of Ryosuke-teme." Just at the mention of Ryosuke, Naruto felt his blood boil as he slammed his fist directly into the hard wall of a building, leaving a fairly big crack in the wall.

The bystanders around Naruto all gasped an inhuman amount of air upon seeing the blond damage the wall with nothing more then his fist alone. "A monster!" A man near by shouted and pointed a finger at Naruto.

Naruto snapped his head to send a glare at the terrified man, making him pale. "Huh? You say something?" He cockily inquired but unfortunately for Naruto he accidentally showed his sharp razor-like wolf fangs at the screaming civilians.

The result only made them cry out in absolute fear before taking off down the road, leaving Naruto standing there with a disconcerted look on his face. "All I said was, did he say something. There was no reason for everyone to run off scare." After a second of just hopelessly standing around, honestly expecting everyone to run back, Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "Oh well." He took one quick glance at his gun-chain before walking off to find a place to grab a bite to eat.

Naruto's thoughts were drawn on the man that'd such a menacing aura around him. "Hmm." Naruto remembered seeing that same hollow who tried to kill Yuichi, and apparently killed the boy's mother. Upon glancing at the bastard hollow, Naruto fazed out without thinking, and reappeared behind the hollow, determined to make him pay for what he did to Yuichi.

Unfortunately, Goro grabbed Shrieker and disappeared from Naruto's sight in the blink of an eye, leaving Naruto exasperated. "That coward," Naruto ranted as gritted his razor sharp fangs together. "The least he could've done is thought me like a man, instead of running away like a wuss! What's his problem anyway?"

That guy really got under Naruto's skin. Those eyes of his really irked Naruto; they told the blond that he wanted nothing more but to see destruction come to the world, and that was a problem.

The guy seemed pretty strong but Naruto was sure he could take him if needs be. After all, he has his **Kaminari Hatsubai: Zettaiteki hakai. Roketto kyanon. HA, (Lightning Release: Absolute destruction. Rocket cannon HA). **That alone would enable the blond to destroy multiple mountains with only one burst of it while Naruto's in his Raijin mode. Only problem with that was…

"I still can only use my Roketto Kyanon once a day." Naruto stressed as he leaned against the wall of a warehouse, ignoring the looks he was receiving from people due to him talking to himself like a madman. "This sucks! And to top that off I have idea what kind of powers this guy even possesses."

It certainly gave Naruto a headache trying to figure the guy out so he would be prepared to combat him if needs be. Maybe Naruto should just wing it. He has his Raijin mode, which allows him to move at the speed of lightning for a short period of time. Surely this guy can't be any faster then lightning. What's faster then that.

Oh yeah. Of course… light. When it came to learning about speed in science class, Naruto was always up to the challenge. Moving at such high speeds always intrigued Naruto. And now he could actually feel what it was like to blur out of existence like a ghost.

And there was only one man to thank for that.

Ojii-sama, Sachihiro, Naruto's beloved old presumed deceased master himself; the old man always had a thing about speed. And put Naruto through the most brutal, torturous training the blond had ever gone through before learning how to become a shinigami by the touch of his soul bridge. Through all that Naruto grew stronger and faster, to the point his speed wasn't considered normal any means of the imagination.

Naruto's eyes would've became dejected thinking about his dear master if not for the sound of a gun being loaded and readied to fire that'd got his attention. "What?"

Standing in front of Naruto were roughly about thirty dark-skinned men all holding up guns, and not the small ones but enormous machine guns and shotguns locked and loaded to apparently take him out. Their clothing mostly consisted of white tank tops, showing off their huge broad shoulders and wide chests, black bandanas with white patterns on it that was folded down so the bandanas could be wrapped around their foreheads; big gold chains around their necks, black baggy jeans, and black and white Nike trousers on their feet.

Naruto held a disconcerted expression on his features. "How come all you guys are standing in front of me with those toys in your hands." He asked innocently enough, but the men thought he was being arrogant and/or ignorant to make a comment like that about their guns, and showed this by scowling at him. "Okay, don't talk then." Naruto deadpanned. "I'll just walk off, shall I?" He pointed to the right.

One of the men that instead of a bandana wore a white cap over his head spoke up and voiced everyone's thoughts. "You cheeky brat, you think you can embarrass us the way you did mon and expect us not to get you back?" He kissed his teeth in an annoyed manner. "Fucking brat," he finished.

Naruto took the moment to observe his surroundings. The warehouse he was leaning against was actually abandoned, and there were tons of old wheels and furniture scattered around the area. Naruto would've been surprise that he inexplicably strolled into a gang turf while he was deep in thought about Goro, if not for the fact they were thirty men all armed with guns and looked ready to put a bullet up his ass.

So Naruto tilted his head to the side and dumbly replied, "What?"

The army of thugs all turned red with explosive anger welling up inside of them. Who did this cocky brat think he was, huh? First of all he beats the living daylights out of their boys, then he steals one of their chains, and now he was acting like he could take all thirty of them on his own. The nerve…

"You better watch your goddamn mouth before we rape your gal for what you did to our boys. No one fucks with us and gets away with it." So now they were threatening to hurt Yuzu and/or Karin if Naruto doesn't "watch" his mouth.

The blond wolf-boy didn't take too kindly to that threat from these weaklings. And shown that when he released a tremendous amount of killing intent that had them taking an involuntary step back. "You weaklings better shut your goddamn mouths! Nobody ever threatens my girls and gets away with it." He growled at them and unintentionally showed his fangs to the men.

The thugs gasped upon witnessing Naruto's razor sharp fangs. They all started sweating bullets as their legs and arms began shaking and their eyes were widening. Neither of them had ever seen a boy with teeth so sharp that they could be considered fangs.

"Y-Yo, mon who the fuck is this kid? Pop his ass now." One of them spoke through a hesitant stutter. He fired a bullet at Naruto, hoping the blond would die straight away.

Naruto saw the bullet coming from miles away, and calmly dropped his arms to the side, and steadied his breathing as the bullet neared his face. Time slowed down as Naruto closed his eyes and allowed his head to drift to the side. The bullet soundly passed Naruto's head, blowing his hair as it did. The bullet slammed into a fence and carry on its way, leaving a bunch of flabbergasted gangstas, and a calm blond-boy behind.

O-O The gangsta's eyes popped right out of their heads and their jaws fell straight to the ground, "W-What?" One of them stammered. That was impossible. No one could dodge a bullet. That was some matrix Neo/agent shit. "H-He c-couldn't have dodged that? That's bullshit! Pop his ass again!"

The same man who fired at Naruto the first time did as he was told and unleashed a second speedy bullet at Naruto, and it ended with Naruto tilting his head to the other side, watching with a stone cold look on his features as the bullet sailed passed his head and the gangstas instantly fell silent.

It didn't last very long as one, probably the leader, ferociously shouted. "What the hell are you? Y-You freaking dodged a bullet for fuck sake!"

Naruto picked up a metal pipe that was leaning against the wall and shot the men a glare, making them all quiver. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Not that it matters to you. And this is my turf. You hear me? Karakura Town is Naruto's turf!" Naruto waved the pipe around and then crouched down as he prepared to charge the men down.

"What?" The men felt insulted that one boy thought he could take them all on with nothing more then a pipe when they have guns. "You stupid freak of a boy, you can't dodge all our bullets. Come on bloods let's pop his ass all at once."

The rest of his crew didn't need to be told twice as they all loaded their guns, pointed them at Naruto and with a simultaneous shout of, "Yaaaaay!" They let their bullets speed out of their guns and rocketed themselves at Naruto.

Naruto focused for a spit second, allowing his body to glow an amazingly powerful orange color before calling out the words, "**Hagane Kagami Renpatsu (Steel Mirror Barrage)!" **Naruto vanished from sight, leaving a trail of mesmerizing images of himself that seemingly followed him directly to the gangstas.

They would've shouted but they never got the chance as Naruto and his trail of images swivelled in between the men, leashing their arms out in all different directions, their strikes were so fast it looked like they hadn't done anything. That was before Naruto finished his blinding assault in a crouched down position with the pipe coolly held in front of him.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaah!" The men all screamed as they spontaneously and simultaneously flew backwards from the relentless, insane, invisible-to-the-naked-eye super barrage that came back to haunt them a hundred folds over. Naruto's eyes were shut as thirty bodies all flew over his head as if they were launched by a rocket launcher. When in reality Naruto had smacked them all in either their faces, bodies or even their private parts.

Naruto stood up to his feet, and ignoring the groans of pain coming from the downed gangstas, Naruto breathed easily. "Awesome! That move totally paid off. Nice one old man Yasuhiro for the advice." His Zanpakuto had told him he should start strengthening his physical body in order to further enhance his control over lightning while in his shinigami form. That and the fact they may be times when Naruto wouldn't have the chance to transform into a shinigami, and would need to be able to defend himself. So he pushed his body to its limits in order to master his new move.

So Naruto cleaned the warehouse of all its money inside, and robbed the gangstas of all their money before sending them all packing with their tails between their legs, Naruto realized he was now pretty well loaded. With the amount of money he had "received" he could buy Karin-chan and Yuzu-chan something nice.

Oh… That reminded Naruto he had to get to school. Come to think about it the blond hadn't been keeping track of time. Well hopefully he hadn't been out too long otherwise Naruto was sure Karin-chan and Yuzu-chan would kill him. This was what Naruto thought as he stabbed his hand into his pocket and pulled out his mobile phone to glance at the time.

And the end result only made him pale, "Noooooooooooo!"

* * *

**Karakura Middle/Junior School/Karin and Yuzu**

The Kurosaki twins patiently waited for their blond friend to show up and attend geography class. Karin soon began impatiently tapping her foot onto the floor of the classroom; she knew she and Yuzu should have dragged Naruto by the scruff of his neck to the library.

"If that Naruto misses class, I'm going to kill him." Karin whispered to her sister Yuzu while she stared at the slow moving clock that appeared to be moving fast to her and Yuzu.

Yuzu got a sweat drop falling off the side of her face. "I'm sure Naruto-kun's only running a tad late, that's all." Yuzu never liked to think her Naruto-kun would intentionally skip school. Even the time when he did intentionally skip school, Yuzu still somewhat believed deep down that Naruto-kun had a good reason for what he did.

Karin's eyebrow started twitching as more students strolled into the classroom. And none of them were Naruto. "I hope for his sake that he is running a tad late, sis." Her fingers were patiently drumming her arms as she kept her arms crossed over her chest and her left leg gracefully crossed over her right leg.

A tall boy with green spiky hair, light skin and brown eyes wandered over to Karin and Yuzu. "Hey Karin, hey Yuzu," He started, gaining their attention. The boy was wearing a white blazer jacket with black buttons, white trousers and black shoes on his feet. "I don't know why two lovely women such as yourselves would hang with that delinquent Uzumaki-boy anyway. Both he and his friend Ryosuke are nothing but troublemakers who can't even wear the school uniform."

Karin gave him a bored look. "And what would you know about Naruto?" The boy looked disconcerted. "On second thought, just get lost Jun," Karin waved him away with the flick of her hand.

Jun huffed arrogantly. "Fine, but don't come back crying to me when your boyfriend Naruto gets kicks out of school." He turned away from the girls and coolly walked away.

"We won't Jun." Yuzu stated confidently and Jun only smirked more, eliciting a sigh out of Yuzu. "I wish Naruto-kun and Ryosuke-san could make more friends."

It was always the two of them together as much as they would refuse to admit it. No one else other then Yuzu and Karin (and Orihime and Ururu, not that the girls knew of them yet.) liked Uzumaki Naruto and Kagoshima Ryosuke. This was mainly due to the fact the boys were delinquents that loved to get into fights with the local gangs after school. Trying to prove their superiority to one another by making it a game of who can beat the stuffing out of the most thugs the fastest.

Karin shrugged. "They have each other either way." Karin knew the lads were best friends even when both denied that they were. How else could one explain that they both skip school to play video games at the arcade? Karin's eyes narrowed dangerously and a gleam was seen in her eye. "Naruto better run into class right this instant."

Karin's eyes only locked on to the teacher that'd strolled into the classroom wearing her usual red jumper, brown skirt and thick glasses on her face. "Alright class how are you all today." The kids let out a rather unenthusiastic "yay" eliciting a sigh from Miss Riko. "Oh come on, I'm really that bad." She said with her hands on her hips. The kids chose not to answer that question because the bell sounded, signalling the official start of the lesson. And Miss Riko noticed two students were absence. "Ah, No Kagoshima-san or Uzumaki-san," She rolled her eyes. They were probably fighting again.

Red menacing flames emitted themselves around Karin's form. "Narutooooooooooooo!"

* * *

**Abandoned warehouse/Naruto**

Naruto cringed. He could almost hear Karin-chan wanting to strangle him until his face turned black and blue. Or even bitch slap him into another nationality. "Shit! I'm so dead! Why'd I have to knock out those wannabes in the first place! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" Naruto cursed over and over again. He was doomed. Karin-chan was going to kill him for skipping class. What to do?

_Beep, beep, beep._

Naruto's phone went off, making the blond flinched because he was so heavily focused on how to avoid getting his ass whoop by his beloved Karin-chan. After he regained his composure Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out his mobile phone to see who would leave him a text, as if he didn't always know. Who else would leave him a text in the middle of class time?

Oh of course. That's right. It's Ryosuke-teme. And that's what Naruto listed Ryosuke as in his mobile phone. He could only imagine what Ryosuke preferred to him as… probably clown. Naruto rolled his eyes and opened up the text to see what Ryosuke had sent him.

And once again it left a vein popping out of Naruto's forehead as he read the text out-loud. "_Hey clown I bet you're skipping class right now and you're freaking out because you know Karin will murder you. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Shame." _

"Bitch!" Naruto would've sent a text back to Ryosuke if not for the fact the brown haired boy had a point. Naruto exasperatedly slammed the palm of his hand into his face, Ryosuke knew him well alright. The taller boy knew he'd be skipping class because he wanted to get something to eat but ended up getting side-tracked a long the way.

_Beep, beep, beep. _

Naruto got another sent text. And again it was from Ryosuke-teme, and again it only left Naruto's eyebrow twitching in annoyance. _"Can't think of a comeback, right bitch? Ha, ha. You know I'm right and you can't accept it." _

Naruto's pupils disappeared and angry flames emitted around him. "Ryosuke-teme!" He shouted as he gritted his sharp razor fangs together and clenched his fists so tight he drew blood from his hands. "When I find you Ryosuke-teme I'm going to murder you!"

But right now he had to think of a way that'd ease Karin's temper at him. Otherwise he wouldn't live to fight Ryosuke.

Spontaneously Naruto got a light bulb on top of his head. "I know! I'll just buy Karin-chan and Yuzu-chan something they both love so much that they'll just have to forgive me. Hehe. It's the perfect plan." He had all this money after all. Why not put it to good use. "Yeah. But first thing's first. I have to dispose of the evidence here."

Naruto put the bag of money down and pulled out his soul badge. He wasn't going to forget it again after the last time. He slammed his soul badge into his physical body and released his soul form out of it. The white headband tied around his forehead to keep his spiritual pressure in check whistled harmlessly to the side by the slight cool breeze.

Naruto spread his legs out and narrowed his eyes at his target. _The warehouse. _He held his left arm out and pointed his index finger at the warehouse; he gripped his left arm as soon as it began vibrating from the intense pressure of him generating his move. The thunderous noise penetrated his ears but he chose to ignore it and instead called out the words, **"Kaminari Hatsubai: Zettaiteki hakai. Roketto kyanon. HA (Lightning Release: Absolute destruction. Rocket cannon HA)!" **

Naruto's finger glowed brightly before he fired the destructive blast of energy from the tip of his outstretched index finger. His rocket cannon rippled the air itself as it soared straight towards the warehouse at the speed of lightning. One huge explosion later, the warehouse was disintegrated, and a deep crater was left in its place.

Naruto whistled. "Woo. I'm pretty powerful." He humbly commented to himself. He was the strongest kid/person/warrior in all of Karakura Town. And the blond humbly thanked his master for the incredible amount of spiritual pressure stored inside of him. As a week ago Naruto was having a conversation with his Zanpakuto Raijin Yasuhiro, and Yasuhiro told him due to all of his training he received when he was younger was the course of his tremendous amount of energy lying inside of him.

Naruto happily smiled. He loved being extremely powerful. But right now he had to get off before the police arrive to see him standing next to a huge crater, only to then wonder how the hell he coursed such an explosion. With that on the mind of Naruto he leaped back into his physical body, tightened his dark blue sash around his waist, hoisted his money bag onto his shoulder, and disappeared from sight.

* * *

**10 minutes later. Karakura Town's sports store.**

Naruto walked out of the sports shop with an Adidas bag coolly flung over his shoulder. It looked puffed up as if it was stuffed full with lots of clothes. "Ah." Naruto sighed blessedly as he patted his new bag. "Now no one would expect me of anything if my money stays in here."

Naruto knew he needed to get a bag and hide his money in there. Too many people were giving him suspicious looks seeing him carry a black garbage bag on his shoulder. The police even questioned him about what was in the bag, and seeing as Naruto wasn't the slyest criminal, he reacted on impulsive, knocked out the police officer, stripped off his clothes and stole his badge and gun. He didn't need the gun because he could just dodge bullets if needs be, so he threw the gun down the drain and kept the badge.

"Hehe," Naruto laughed as he stared down at the police badge in his hand. "I have the power to get things for free now. Ha, ha. Watch out world Uzumaki Naruto's on the loose! Believe it!" Naruto froze when he realized he said a phrase he had never used before. "Believe it…" That actually had a nice ring to it. "With the police badge I can get anything I want. Believe it."

Flashback

_Naruto walked into the sports store because he decided to buy a new bag after being questioned by a police officer. Naruto was undoubted nervous, he loathed being questioned because he felt like he was being interrogated by the police officer._

_After the police snapped out some handcuffs because he believed Naruto was acting suspicious, Naruto's instincts told him to grab the police officer's hand and break it in a sickening way until the police officer's lungs died out from screaming so much._

_Then his instincts told him to take off the police officer's clothes and burn them with his patented __**Kaminari Hatsubai: Subarashii totsunyuu iraira bakuhatsu (Lightning release: Great penetration raging blast). **__And he did just that. He may only be able to pull off his Rocket cannon once, but he can spam the shit out of his raging blast._

_It's not as powerful but it doesn't need to be. As it is a move that can pinpoint the most pressure points on a warrior's body, leaving them in a messed up way that Naruto would certainly take advantage of._

_And with the police officer's clothes burned to pieces he wouldn't be able to report him to the main station, unless he wanted to embarrass himself. Naruto would be off the hook._

"_Ah, nice bag," Naruto caught glimpse of an Adidas bag. "That'll do." Naruto picked the bag off of the hanger and walked over to the counter to pay for it. "I'll take it please miss." He handed the bag over to the store cloak so it could get paid for._

_The lady behind the counter scanned the bag and the price immediately came up on the cash register. She was about to ask Naruto for the money until she caught sight of the magic slip that'd allow Naruto to get things for free, "No worries officer, it's on the house." She finished with a wink at him, making Naruto blush. She was pretty hot still._

"_Officer?" Naruto responded as he glanced at the badge in his hand. A smirk crossed his face. "Yeah, I'm an officer." The woman handed Naruto his bag and the blond jumped over the counter, much to the woman's confusion. "Thanks sweetheart." Naruto took his hand and used it to smack the woman on her tight around ass, eliciting a surprised "yelp" out of her. "You know you love it." Naruto said as he coolly strolled out of the store, leaving the woman blushing a deep red._

"_What a guy…" She loved police officers. _

_End of flashback_

Naruto stared at his palm and realized he really enjoyed smacking women's asses. "That bitch knew she loved it._" _Then he realized he may've cheated on Yuzu and Karin. And that only made him pale. "Shit. I shouldn't have done that. Oh well. What Karin-chan and Yuzu-chan don't know won't hurt them. Believe it."

"Whiskers-san."

Naruto jumped and stiffed by the sound of a delicate woman's voice. He turned around and his heart rate died down. "Ah, it's only you Cat-Lady-chan."

Yoruichi gave him a fake hurt look. "Awww, is that anyway to speak to an old friend." Yoruichi was dressed in an orange top (Naruto loved her for that) tight black pants and sandals on her feet. She looked like a ninja. "And I thought we were friends."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Okay Cat-Lady-chan I'll keep that in mind." Naruto said in a deadpan tone. "I was actually-"

"Skipping school," Yoruichi chirped in before Naruto could finish. And when Naruto began sweating bullets she knew she had him. "I'm right, aren't I whiskers-kun." She finished in a teasing voice.

Naruto couldn't get beat that easy. "No, school isn't on today. I mean school's sick today… no wait, I'm meant to be sick today… or school has this disease going around that turns people into homosexuals…"

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha," Yoruichi just had to laugh wholeheartedly at Naruto. The boy couldn't get his lies straight at all. "Homosexuals…" she wiped a tear from her eye that occurred from her laughing so hard. "I guess I should just phone your grandmother and see what she has to say about this "homosexual" disease going around school."

Naruto dropped to his knees and crawled over to Yoruichi. "Noooooo! Don't tell Grammy! It'll break her little heart to find her golden boy skipping school again."

Yoruichi smirked widely, "Oh, so you did skip school." Naruto panicked even more. How could he be so stupid? His grandmother will kill him now, surely! He's dead! And if she doesn't finish the job you better believe Karin and Yuzu will. "Relax." Yoruichi tried to assure him with her best cat-like smirk. "I am not going to tell off you."

Naruto breathed easy, "Really?" Yoruichi nodded. "Yay! Believe it!" Naruto cheered loudly as he threw his arms up in the air.

"On one condition thou," Naruto stopped his celebration to look at Yoruichi's smirking face. "You must beat me in a race first. If you win, I won't tell off you. But If I win, then you have to tell your grandma and your girlfriends about the things you've been up to." She gestured at Naruto. "A.K.A robbing and beating up people just to prove your strength," She finished, smirking.

Naruto paled. "Ah! How'd you know?" Yoruichi only gave him a devious look that said 'I have my ways'. "Damn! Guess I have no choice." Naruto placed his left leg in front of himself, and placed his right leg back and bent it by the knee. "I can't tell Grammy, Karin-chan and Yuzu-chan what I've been doing. They'll kill me. Believe it!"

Yoruichi chuckled. "You're funny whiskers-kun." Naruto scowled at her, only proceeding to make her laugh more. "Alright, first one to make it to the park wins. Got it?"

Naruto threw his arms up in the air, "Yay!" He then concentrated his power to activate his **Hagane Kagami Renpatsu (Steel mirror barrage), **"Let's go Cat-Lady-chan. I'll win this race for sure. Believe it!" Naruto challenged.

Yoruichi took up a stance before saying, "Of course whiskers-kun." She then assessed Naruto's form. 'Hmm, I wonder how fast he'll be. And that stance, ha I think this'll be fun.' She held up three fingers. "On the count of three whiskers-kun. The game shall begin." Naruto nodded as he narrowed his eyes, never taking his mind off the prize. "3. 2. 1." Yoruichi glowed a fantastic-milky white color.

Naruto would've looked amazed by Yoruichi's power if not for the fact he was so heavily focused on his own power**. "Hagane Kagami Renpatsu (Steel mirror barrage)" **And with that yelled, Naruto and Yoruichi both disappeared, moving at hyper sonic speed to reach their prior destination first.

* * *

**Karakura High School/classroom/Ichigo and Rukia**

Thankfully for the orange haired man, Rukia had used her memory eraser to wipe everyone's memory clean of the events that transpired between Kon and Ryosuke. Now they believed a couple of hooligans crashed into the classroom and messed it up. Which was sort of right, considering that Ryosuke was a delinquent school-boy and Ichigo was a thug-boy that beats up the bullies.

It had been an uneventful day to say the least. Keigo attempted to give Ichigo a man-hug and ended up receiving an immense thump to his face courtesy of said boy who the hyperactive kid tried to hug. Orihime talked about Ryosuke to her friends and inexplicably made Chizuru shiver in fear as if Ryosuke had caused her such a scare that she simply couldn't forget about it.

Chad remained quiet like he so often does, only to speak upon being spoken to. Like now for instant. "Yo Chado, you cool man?" Ichigo asked the mammoth of a school-boy.

Chad hummed and nodded his head. "I'm okay Ichigo-san. My shoulder still feels a tad sore for some unknown reason." It left Chad confused when he realized his arm was bruised. Who could have the strength to damage him in such a way?

Ichigo's eyes widened. 'Did Ryosuke budge into Chad? No, that's impossible! Chad's too strong. There's no way Ryosuke could hurt him' Ichigo scratched the back of his head. "You probably just fell over Chad." Chad nodded in agreement with Ichigo. "I hope" Ichigo whispered under his breath so Chad wouldn't hear him.

Keigo was in dream mode at how lovely Rukia looked. "Ahhhh, Rukia-chan your beauty's rivalled by none." He had hearts in his eyes too.

Rukia gracefully crossed her arm over her face and giggly replied, "Well thank you kind sir." Ichigo rolled his eyes; Rukia sure had the boys fooled because they were practically all over her.

Keigo and Mizuiro each got a nose bleed. "Be mine Rukia-chan." Keigo chirped as he knelt down on one knee and held his hands out for Rukia to take.

Rukia playfully shook her head. "No."

Keigo felt crushed. "Noooooooo!"

Mizuiro played it cool. "It's alright Rukia-chan, because I know you'll be after me soon enough. Asano-san however, will most likely end up with nobody."

Keigo glared pitifully at Mizuiro, "Dude! That's not fair! I got skills you know. I'm good looking, right girls?" He got nothing other then the sound of a cuckoo making its morning call. Keigo hung his head down in defeat. "Whyyyyyy!"

Mizuiro placed his hands into his pockets and leaned back on his chair. "Because you're annoying, Asano-san," He smiled.

"I wasn't talking to you!"

Rukia sweat-dropped, 'Those two must be on some form of medication. I mean no one could be that mad.'

Tatsuki sighed. "Don't those two ever stop acting like idiots?"

Orihime finished sipping on her apple juice to chime in. "If Kagoshima-kun was here he would say, 'weaklings like them aren't even worth my time'. Or something like that, Hehe." She added a little giggle at the end at her attempt to mimic Ryosuke's voice.

Reiko chirped. "Wow Orihime-chan, you must really like this 'Kagoshima-kun'. You practically talk about him none stop."

Orihime's cheeks lightened up with a slight pink gross across it. "Well Kagoshima-kun's my hero, and my friend. I feel I should talk about him a lot."

Ryo held a bored look on her face, "I still want to know how he ended up saving you from a moving car. That'd mean he's faster then a moving car. And that's insane." She had a point. What normal human being could outrun a car? None, surely!

Orihime held a thought expression on her adorned features. "Well Kagoshima-kun did manage to deflect a moving bullet away with nothing but a metal pipe." Orihime soon regretted blurting that out because her friends gathered around her and began showering her with their many questions.

"How'd he do that?"

"Orihime-chan are you feeling alright?"

"That's crazy no one could deflect a bullet away!"

Orihime waved her hands defensively in front of herself, looking slightly flustered and feeling chagrin. "It's the truth thou." She defended herself.

Noemi's eyes went wide, "No way!"

Tatsuki pulled out her phone. "Yep, it's the truth alright!" She then strolled through her phone list, looking for a certain person to call.

Ryo tilted her head to the side in a nonchalant manner, "That breaks all logic. And it would mean this Kagoshima-kun can least equal a bullet in terms of raw speed alone." Shocking truth, was it not? A boy capable of moving at super sonic speed, that couldn't be right.

Tatsuki found the person she was looking for, "Found him!" She exclaimed as she pressed the green dial button on her phone. "Either Ryosuke-idiot can or can't deflect a bullet is irreverent at this point. Because I'm going to ring him up and call him over so I can defeat him in a one on one fight." Tatsuki had never defeated Ryosuke, or even managed to so much of put a scratch on the boy whenever they spar when the boy would visit Orihime.

Orihime's eyes lightened up and a huge bright smile formed across her face. "You're calling Kagoshima-kun!" she happily yelled, gaining everyone's attention.

Tatsuki held her ear, "Could you be any louder Inoue-chan?" She sarcastically asked and Orihime giggled sheepishly.

Ryo casually sat back in her chair, "So we're finally gonna meet Inoue-san's bo-" she started but trailed off when a rather grumpy voice echoed through Tatsuki's phone.

"_Hello. Is Ginger there?" _First thing Ryosuke asked for was making sure Ichigo was there. "_If he is there, tell him I hate him." _

Ichigo's eye twitched. "Son of a-"

"Hi Kagoshima-kun," Orihime's voice cut off Ichigo as she waved to Ryosuke. "How are you today?"

Ryosuke sighed. "_I can't see you waving you know." _Orihime looked sheepish. "_I'm good thou."_

Ichigo marched over to Tatsuki. "Ryosuke who do you think you are telling Tatsuki-san to say you hate me. I haven't done anything to you!"

"Ichigo!" Tatsuki and Rukia said simultaneously.

"_Is that Ginger's voice? I can't hear him. Turn the speak-"_

"_Help me!" _Another voice echoed through Tatsuki's phone, cutting off Ryosuke. It sounded like a grown men's voice.

Tatsuki raised an eyebrow, "Ryosuke-idiot who the hell was that?"

"_N-Nothing Tatsuki-san," _Ryosuke stammered before he pulled the phone away from his ear to tend to some busy. "_Shut the fuck up or I will kill you punk! That'll teach ya to give me boring lectures about going to school and learning how to be a respectable member of society." _There was a whimpered faint sound coming from Ryosuke's location.

Ichigo looked perplexed as he pressed his face against Tatsuki's to try and hear what Ryosuke was up to. "Ryosuke what the hell are you doing?"

Ryosuke put the phone back onto his ear, "None of your business Ginger. Stay out my life!"

A tick appeared on Ichigo's forehead. "Damn it Ryosuke! I was only asking!"

Ryo, deadpanned. "Charming." She then turned to Orihime with a bored look on her features. "And this is the guy you like Inoue-chan?"

Orihime smiled widely. "Kagoshima-kun does have his ups and downs. But he's a really nice guy once you get to know him." At that point everyone crowded around Tatsuki to the point the black haired girl was forced to put her phone on loud speaker.

"_Help me. I've been kidnapped by a kid." _The same frightened voice came through Tatsuki's phone, making everyone raise an eyebrow.

"_Shut the fuck up!" A loud slamming noise echoed throughout Tatsuki's phone and the scared voice was no more._

Rukia raised an eyebrow. "Ryosuke-san, what have you done?" she inquired as if she were the police.

"_Nothing," _Ryosuke stood up and vanished from his position, filling the phone with a_ swish_ sound as he reappeared somewhere else. "_I'm just wandering around town minding my own busy." _

Noemi raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be in school thou?"

"_Who the hell are you woman? Don't speak to me like that." _Ryosuke scowled in response, making Noemi roll her eyes. He didn't seem like the prince charming Orihime always made him out to be. "_What do you want woman? Why'd you waste my time phoning me in the first place?" _Ichigo gritted his teeth in anger; he hated the way the boy was speaking to his close friend.

Tatsuki sighed and proceeded to explain. "First of all you should be in school Ryosuke-idiot." All the girls (except for Orihime and Rukia) gave Tatsuki a pat on the back for calling Ryosuke an idiot. "And second I called you because I wanted you to come to my school around three o clock so I could challenge you to a fight."

Ryosuke sounded like he leisurely sat back on a branch because he let out a relax sigh. "_That sounds like a waste of my time, woman. I've already beaten you twenty odd times. Why would I want to fight you again for? It would just be a pointless fight."_

Tatsuki smirked. "Are you scared? Are you scared to fight little old me Ryosuke-san. You do know I was only going easy on you the last couple of times I fought you."

Ryosuke scoffed. "_That won't work on me Tatsuki. Because fighting you or Ginger is a waste of my time." _

A vein popped out of Ichigo's forehead as he snatched Tatsuki's phone from her grasp. "You bastard how dare you say I am not worth your time! If anything you're not worth my time!" Saliva flew out of Ichigo's mouth and onto the screen of Tatsuki's phone, eliciting the karate girl's eyebrow to twitch.

"_Whatever! If you or Tatsuki want a piece of me then you can come find me like everyone else always does_." And those poor fools would usually get their asses handed to them._ "I'm off anyway."_

Orihime jolted up to her feet and grabbed the phone away from Ichigo, making a sweat drop appear on Ichigo's forehead at how fast she was able to grab Tatsuki's phone from him. "Bye, bye Kagoshima-kun. I hope you have fun today. I'll phone you when I get out of school, okay." She finished by blowing a kiss towards the phone.

"_Okay, bye. Oh, and I still can't see you blowing a kiss to me by the way." _Orihime giggled softly at her clumsiness before Ryosuke ended the call and Orihime sighed melancholy.

Tatsuki took her phone back from Orihime. "Damn it!" That went smooth. "When I get my hands on Ryosuke-idiot I swear I'm going to kill him!" The boy's attitude was simply too much.

"The boy sure does have an attitude problem." Noemi chimed before turning to Orihime. "And that's your prince charming, Inoue-chan?"

Orihime tried to shake off her sadness upon not getting to talk with Ryosuke. She hated having to end calls with Ryosuke. "Kagoshima-kun's a teddy bear when you get to know him. Really he is." She argued as she sat down on her chair.

Ichigo, deadpanned, "Could've fooled me." He started before he felt his ear being pulled downwards. "Ow! Rukia that hurts, let go!"

Rukia pulled Ichigo away and smiled pleasantly at Orihime. "Don't listen to him Orihime-chan. He sometimes doesn't know when to watch his mouth." She ignored Ichigo's grumbles as she dragged him away from an oblivious Orihime and friends.

"Weird" Ryo nonchalantly exclaimed.

Outside of Karakura High School

Shrieker watched the events unfold from a story high tower, keeping his gaze fixated on Rukia. His eyes glowed a menacing red color as he observed the black haired girl scolding her orange haired friend.

"There she is!" He murmured. He knew he had to capture Rukia in order for the boss to have something to gain complete control over the mighty Susumu Ogre, legendary warrior of the Soul Society.

"This girl will be mine soon enough!" Shrieker exclaimed.

* * *

**Elsewhere with Tomoyo and Yuichi**

Tomoyo had taken the little boy up to the cemetery in order for them to make a makeshift resting place for the boy's mother. Tomoyo felt her heart bleed for the little boy. No one should've to go through what he had been forced to go through, and at such a young age as well.

The two walked on in silence as Yuichi kept his hand locked with Tomoyo's with a melancholy look on his face. Even the skies appeared to weep for the poor boy because they darkened for a spit second as if God himself for threatening to make it rain with his tears.

The boy's legs didn't give out even when ascending the mountain-like hill on the way to the cemetery. He made Tomoyo look down on him because he squeezed her hand extra tight, as if pleading with the old lady to protect him.

Tomoyo gently pattered Yuichi's head, making him feel safer. When the two reached the top of the mountain they strolled into the cemetery and placed a tombstone Tomoyo had gotten on the way to town.

After the old lady buried the tombstone into the ground so it was sticking up, she kneeled down next to the shorter boy and with a kind smile on her face she asked. "What's your mother's name my child."

Yuichi looked down as salty tears began pouring down his eyes, "M-My m-mommy's n-name-" he trailed off when he felt two arms pull him into an embrace.

"Don't be sad, Yuichi-chan." Tomoyo whispered in a soft voice as she caressed the boy's hair. "Always remember you're never alone. You have me, and Naruto-chan. We're your family now. Although, I understand it's hard for you to let go off your mother."

Yuichi sniffed up some snot up his nose and wrapped his arms around Tomoyo. "Thank you grandma," He was thankful for the love that Naruto and Tomoyo had already shown him in his show time with them. He felt like he already had a small part of his family back. He wiped his tears away with his hand. "My mommy's name is Hoshi."

"Hoshi," Tomoyo softly repeated and Yuichi nodded. "It means star." She cooed out and Yuichi gave her a sad smile. Tomoyo then took out a hammer and a nail and began to engrave Yuichi's mother's name into the tombstone.

He may've been a little boy but even he knew the old lady of Naruto engraved his mother's name within that tombstone surprisingly easy. 'Wow… she's strong.' Yuichi thought as Tomoyo finished engraving his mother's name within the tombstone.

The tombstone read… Here lies the mother of Yuichi. She was loved by her son and by many others. She worked hard to raise her baby boy, and died knowing she protected him well.

Salty tears ran down Yuichi's cheeks as he caught glimpse of a star embedded underneath his mother's name. "Thank you, grandma Tomoyo-chan."

Tomoyo gestured Yuichi to come over and placed a hand lovingly on his head. "There's no need to thank me little one. It's what family are here for. To help each other out in times of crisis," She spoke wise-fully. "Now let's us pray for your mother's soul."

Yuichi nodded and followed Tomoyo's example by placing his two hands together and closing his eyes. He allowed his thoughts to dwell on his beautiful, caring and loving mother. The woman that'd bought him into the world, a woman that'd bathed him and made sure clothes were on his back.

His eyes watered up from the kind words Tomoyo said in their pray. They were peaceful, comforting, the perfect words for his mother's passing.

And when the pray was over he knew he had to say goodbye to his mother. He sat there on his knees, his eyes filled with tears and clothes getting soaked with said tears. He felt two arms wrap around him and glance up to see Tomoyo with a caring smile on her features. "Grandma Tomoyo."

Tomoyo cuddled Yuichi. "It's okay Yuichi-chan. I'm here for you." Yuichi felt warm in Tomoyo's embrace. "I know it hurts, and it's going to hurt for a while. But just remember you don't have to deal with this alone. Naruto-chan and I are here for you. We're your family and we'll love and take good care of you from now on."

Yuichi smiled softly, "Thank grandma Tomoyo."

Tomoyo gave him an eye smile. "No problem." She then looked over to a certain tombstone that'd played on her mind for years. 'My dear friend Kurosaki Masaki; I'm so sorry I wasn't strong enough to protect you." Her eyes held regret and shame.

Yuichi noticed Tomoyo's eyes filled with sadness. "Grandma Tomoyo are you okay?"

Tomoyo smiled assuredly at Yuichi. "Of course I am dear. Now let's go home now, I'll buy you an ice cream on the way." Yuichi had a gleam in his eye at that. "Ha, ha," Tomoyo laughed wholeheartedly, kids will be kids after all. She would've picked up Yuichi and strolled home if she hadn't sensed the tremendous energy of a very similar person. "No…" she froze.

Pitting footsteps edged closer towards Tomoyo and Yuichi. Until it was revealed to be a tall, lean built light skinned man with brown hair and distinctive golden color eyes. And when he spoke, he spoke in a cool, smooth voice, "Evening old friend."

Tomoyo's eyes widened as she recognized the person before her, "Kagoshima Goro."

Goro smirked. "We need to talk."

* * *

**And I'm done. I'm out. Peace.**

**Did anyone notice in that chapter that Ryosuke saw everything. Just saying.**


	12. The Return and the Test of One's skills

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or Naruto. **

* * *

**Chapter 12**

**The Return and the Test of One's Abilities**

**Flashback 20 years ago - Goro and Tomoyo**

_A child's voice drifted harmlessly over the horizon of a peaceful forest miles away from town. The boy was light-skinned and was short for his age. He had brown shaggy hair and silver colored eyes. He was wearing a red jumper with white strips, brown slacks and simple blue sandals on his feet._

_The boy's left arm was stretched out while his right arm was held back. He made a pulling gesture with his hands as if he was trying to firer a bullet at someone. "Damn!" The little boy cursed. Even the calm current of the water underneath him couldn't keep him relax. "Why can't I become a Quincy auntie Tomoyo?" He seemingly asked no one in particular._

_A whistling sound was heard before a tall, beautiful woman appeared standing next to the river current the boy was on. She had long luscious pink hair falling to her lower back, jade green eyes filled with all the determination any veteran warrior could ask for. She was wearing a silver top, a white cape placed over her shoulders, white gloves on her hands, white baggy trousers and plain white sandals on her feet._

_The woman looked at the little boy with a smile on her face. "Goro-dear, why do you desire to become a Quincy so much?" She questioned._

_Goro held a fierce look of determination in his eyes; a look that made the woman's heart beat against her chest. She felt Goro could become something truly great. "It's because I want to be able to protect my precious people!" He roared with absolutely no hesitation in his voice and all the resolve in his eyes._

_The woman giggled softly, "You want to be able to protect Masaki-chan. Right, Goro-kun?" Her response was Goro's cheeks turning a beat red color. "Ha, ha," She laughed whole-heartedly. "Goro-kun, there's no need to become a Quincy to protect Masaki-chan. You could always train in martial arts to do so."_

_The life of a Quincy wasn't an easy one. This was because all they did was kill and destroy, while their rivals, the shinigami, purify, thus allowing the cycle of life to continue endlessly._

_But the Quincy were relentless; they killed the hollows, Humanoid hollows and attempted to murder the most powerful of all hollows, the Demonoid hollows. However, they were defeated effortlessly. How they even managed to break into the "Demon-World" to challenge the mighty godlike hollows were beyond even the Spirit King himself. But that was irrelevant, because the hollow kings demanded the eradication of the entire Quincy race. _

_The hollow-lords took out a good chunk of the Quincy army but many others still managed to escape the Demon-World, leaving the barrier that sealed the kings away from the World of the Living open. And with the hollow kings free to roam around the World of the Living, the spirit king himself was forced to confront them._

_As powerful as the Spirit King was, he couldn't take all of the hollow kings on by himself, even with his wife, the Spirit Queen; it would've been futile to fight them. So they came to an agreement of sorts. One that made the Spirit King ashamed of himself, but he knew deep down that it'd to be done. His wife, however was indifferent, she couldn't care less. Those that failed to abide by the rules shouldn't be allowed to live; it was that simple to her._

_And so the eradication of the entire Quincy race was set in motion. _

_It hurt. It pained. Pained the Spirit King that he had to order his men to annihilate the Quincy race, they were only human after all. One by one, the Quincy army fell to the overwhelming power of the shinigami Captains, until there was only a handful left._

_And those survivors ran into hiding, just waiting for their time to rise and shine once more. _

_That was years, and years, and years ago. _

_And Tomoyo would never want her little friend Goro to have to relive such a painful experience. Knowing full well if she was to teach her friend Goro, who looked up to her as if she was his auntie, how to be a Quincy, hollows would be all over his ass once his spiritual pressure begins to develop. _

"_I have to become a Quincy!" Goro yelled, surprising Tomoyo. "My father's a shinigami, and my mother's a Quincy. My dear mother, she hardly has anyone of her own kind around her because of what the bastard Spirit King did!" The little boy despised the Spirit King with a burning passion! And it was the boy's own father's entire fault._

_Tomoyo shook her head with her hand across her face. Why'd Koji (Goro's father) have to tell the boy the secret behind the Quincy's eradication? He wasn't ready to hear the tale of the Quincy. It could lead young Goro on the path to darkness. _

_Koji wanted his boy to become a shinigami. Why? Tomoyo was almost certain it had something to do with the hollowfication. Or maybe it was because of his own pride of being a shinigami. Koji was once a low C-rank officer of the Soul Society, before an unfortunate incident forced him to go into hiding. _

_Koji was an odd man. Tomoyo could never figure him out. On one hand he desired nothing more to obliterate the whole Soul Society and everyone in it for what they'd done to him. And on the other hand he wanted to prove his worth as a shinigami. One could only guess he had a hard time during his shinigami training._

_Maybe that was why he yearned for nothing more but the entire eradication of the Soul Society and everyone in it; with his own power, and not someone else's power. Because after all Koji was, and always will be, a shinigami, if he was going to handle a situation then he should do it the way he was trained to do so._

_And this left young Goro. Why'd he want to become a Quincy for? Especially after his father had told him the Quincy were eradicated as if they were mere flies among giants. _

_Goro decided to elaborate when he saw the bewildered look on Tomoyo's features. "I want to prove that the Quincy are not weak like my father says they are." He stated with a hard, undying resolve in his eyes. "And I know…" he suddenly had a look of guilt in his eyes. "… That I said I hate the Spirit King. But that's only because I want peace. I want both the Shinigami and the Quincy to live in peace! Auntie Tomoyo!"_

"_Goro-kun…" Tomoyo whispered softly as she stared at the little seven year old boy as if she was seeing him for the first time. She knew she had to teach him. "Alright Goro-kun," Tomoyo smiled. "I'll teach you how to become a Quincy."  
_  
_Goro couldn't believe what he had heard. His jaw slightly opened to say something, "You really mean it auntie Tomoyo?" He questioned and Tomoyo only nodded with a sweet smile on her face. "Yay!" Goro's face was beaming with delight. "Let's get started auntie Tomoyo!" No time like the present._

_Tomoyo laughed. "Ha, ha, of course Goro-kun," The little boy hopped up and down on the rock he was on that was above the quiet river current. As he was doing that the old lady glanced up towards the sky, a look of hopefulness upon her features. 'Maybe he can change the world we live in. Maybe Goro can change the ways of the Soul Society.'_

* * *

**_Flashback abruptly ended_**

"Grandma!"

Yuichi's frightened voice snapped Tomoyo out of her thoughts. He gripped tightly onto her arm, making her look up to see Goro coolly advancing towards them as if he had all the time in the world.

Tomoyo shook her head a couple of times, as if double checking the scene before her was really happening. How could it be happening? How could that sweet little boy that once called Tomoyo auntie turn into a cold blooded killer? Was it her fault? Because she failed to protect Goro's one true love…

The footsteps of Goro abruptly stopped, once again snapping the old lady out of her thoughts. She couldn't talk. She was still in a deep shock that her beloved little friend had become such a menace to society… literally.

"Grandma Tomoyo," Goro greeted in an amused voice, as if finding it funny what the old lady had become before his eyes. "You were once so beautiful, auntie Tomoyo. Now look at you." He was trying to soften her up with verbal insults, a reverse of sorts, adding death to insult instead of insult to death.

And it was working perfectly well. Tomoyo could feel her heart bleeding, her breathing became heavy as she protectively wrapped both arms around Yuichi. "Goro-kun-"her voice trailed off.

But Goro wasn't about to show mercy to the weak. "You used to be such a powerful warrior, auntie Tomoyo." He said with an almost sadistic smirk on his face. "And now just look at you, I bet you couldn't even defeat a low class lieutenant the way you are now."

Goro wasn't lying. And Tomoyo sadly knew it. Her powers completely dissipated since Goro walked the far road over to the dark side of the spiritual pressure. She tried her utmost to protect him, going as far as to unleash her final form. She failed miserably. And of course the use of her final form resulted in the loss of her Quincy powers. Becoming so weak she couldn't even fend off a robber that threatened to kill her precious grandson….

Naruto-chan

Over the years her powers have slowly started to come back to her. But she was certain she wouldn't be able to defeat her grandson Naruto in his base form, let alone his shinigami form, and his ultimate form, his Raijin mode.

And yes, she knew of Naruto becoming a shinigami and having probably the most powerful of all Zanpakuto spirits, Raijin Yasuhiro. How could she not know? She's good friends with Isshin, whose good friends with Kisuke. In fact the four of them (along with Yoruichi) were having a chat about Naruto's progress just the other day ago.

Her three friends frowned at her. They wondered why Tomoyo wouldn't tell her beloved grandson that she knew of him being a shinigami.

The answer was very simple to Tomoyo. She simply didn't want Naruto to have to worry about her. She thought if she kept that she knew of him having the incredible ability to transform himself into living, breathing, lightning a secret, he would be able to concentrate more on purifying the wandering hollows and sending the hollows' would-be meals to the Soul Society via konso.

A sort of stereotype hero identity complex; where the hero keeps his identity hidden from his love ones so his enemies wouldn't use them against him.

Goro had a feeling Tomoyo wouldn't want to tell her 'precious' baby boy she knew of his secret. "I bet you haven't Naruto that you know he's a shinigami." Just from the horrified look on Tomoyo's face, Goro knew he had hit the nail on the head. "Don't bother to explain yourself." After all, she didn't want to tell him she was a Quincy until he stumbled in on her eradicating a hollow with a strange energy bow. The look on her face that day shown she regretted doing what she had to do.

Yuichi could feel the heavy breathing from Tomoyo. It scared him. The little boy could only shut his eyes and grip onto Tomoyo's arms for protection. "What do you want with Naruto-niichan?" A shivering Yuichi asked through his closed eyes.

Goro smirked menacingly and leaked out a tiny bit of murderous intent directed sorely at Yuichi. "Good question." He exclaimed in a casual tone, and tears formed up in the boy's eyes from the unbearable aura of Goro.

Tomoyo could feel it too and tried to be strong for Yuichi, "S-Stop i-it G-Goro-c-chan!" She stammered, the effect of Goro's presence alone was almost unbearable for her. 'What's happened to you?' A teary eyed Tomoyo thought to herself.

Glancing at the teary eyed Tomoyo and Yuichi, Goro felt a sense of pride and joy well up inside of him. How he adored bringing great amount apprehension to those foolish enough to even stand in his presence. "You know something? I much prefer to unleash the deadly Susumu Ogre on you pitiful mortals."

Tomoyo's eyes widened. It couldn't be true. No! No one could ever control the legendary warrior of the Soul Society, Susumu Ogre. Isshin had once told her how everyone, barring a few, feared the deadly warrior. And she was unlucky enough to come face to face with the powerful man himself.

And damn was he powerful. But he didn't see the point in finishing her off despite her being a Quincy. In a matter of fact the man didn't fight her, claiming she wasn't a threat to his sister…

And just like that, Tomoyo knew Goro's plans. It was obvious! How else would he be able to tame the beast himself? "G-Goro N-no, Y-You c-can't-"

"I can. And I will," Goro cut her off with a sadistic smirk across his face. "I will capture Rukia and use her as a tool for my plans. Ha, ha. With her under my thumb Ogre will be at my command. He can't hurt his precious baby sister after all. Mw, ha, ha, ha, ha," Goro let out the most deadly, devilish laugh one could ever hear.

It made tears rain down Yuichi's eyes. And Tomoyo trembled. The little boy she taught how to be a Quincy had become a monster before her eyes. His was talking like destruction would be a good thing for the world. 'What have I done?' Tomoyo solemnly thought to herself. The burden of Goro transforming into a monster weighed heavily on her shoulders. "If I'd only protected Masaki-chan better, then you wouldn't be like this. Would you?" She murmured.

Yuichi heard her, "G-Grandma?" he wondered through tears.

Unfortunately Goro heard her too. And the powerhouse Quincy had a gleam in his eye that was seen perfectly despite the sunglasses on his face. "You poor naïve, senile old woman," Goro openly mocked. "The Soul Society will pay for their crimes. I desire this for my own reasons. And Ogre will help me rather he likes it or not."

Tomoyo wasn't convinced. "You're a liar! You loved Ma-"

"I have no need for such things." Goro didn't give her the chance to finish. Changing the subject before the old lady questioned him again, "Your grandson will be fighting my army of hollows any minute now."

That shocked Tomoyo and Yuichi. "Naruto-chan/Nii-chan," They simultaneously shouted.

"There's no need to threat." Goro assured with an evil smile. That didn't do anything to reassure them. "It's no more than a test of his strength. Besides, if I were you I would be more worry what'll happen once I get my paws on my prize, Rukia."

Tomoyo was struck in a tight spot. On one hand she wanted to help Naruto fend off the hollows, and on the other hand she couldn't let Rukia fall into the hands of Goro, otherwise it would mean the eradication of Ogre himself. The man may be strong but he's nothing compared to the Spirit King and Queen.

To avoid any unnecessary death, Tomoyo would've to go after Rukia and make sure she doesn't get kidnapped by Goro himself or his men. Naruto-chan would've to handle himself. She was sure he could anyway.

He is strong after all. Kisuke even believes Naruto is stronger than him.

With that on the mind of Tomoyo she picked up a frightened Yuichi and prepared to go find and protect Rukia.

"Leaving so soon, auntie Tomoyo?" Goro inquired and Tomoyo froze in place. "Go ahead then." Confusion was written all over Tomoyo's face as Goro stepped to the side. "Even if you do somehow manage to save Rukia, it'll all be a futile effort in the end. The Soul Society will come for her; you do know that, right? She has already made herself an enemy of her precious Soul Society by surrendering her powers to Kurosaki Ichigo."

Damn!

Tomoyo knew about the strict laws of the Soul Society. And knew it would only be a matter of time before a high A-rank Captain and high B-rank lieutenant come and take Rukia away in order to give her the proper annihilation a so called "traitor" deserved.

Harsh, was it not? And Tomoyo knew only Naruto would've a chance of keeping Rukia safe from the Soul Society. The problem with that was Naruto's only one boy, a powerful boy, but a boy with little to none experience whatsoever.

He could takedown one high A-rank Captain and two high B-rank lieutenants by himself. But the Soul Society smarter than that, and they would've sensed Naruto's power by now, and will take the proper precaution by sending more than one group of high A and B rank Captain and Lieutenant class shinigami.

Now that'd be a problem.

But Tomoyo would've to push that to the back of her mind at this moment of time. And with the hardest look she could muster up Tomoyo assured, "I won't let you get your hands on Rukia."

Goro laughed. "We'll see. We'll see." He repeated. And before Yuichi's and Tomoyo's relived eyes, Goro vanished via Hirenkyaku.

"He's gone!" Yuichi whimpered.

"Yes, rest easy child." Yuichi didn't need to be told twice as he slowly closed his eyes and tried to rest in Tomoyo's arms, wriggling around every once in a while. 'This can't be good. I better go protect Rukia before she gets kidnapped. The last thing that poor girl needs is seeing her brother get himself eradicated by the Head-Captain Yamamoto.'

And she knew this well. Susumu Ogre was powerful in his own rights but surely he would be no match for the Head-Captain's bankai. After all, he isn't the Head-Captain for nothing. Handpicked personally by the Spirit King's trusted right man, of course he's powerful.

And with that on the mind of Tomoyo, she quickly ran home as fast as possible with another thought also on her mind, and that was… 'I hope my powers are strong enough to protect Rukia.'

* * *

**Elsewhere**

Quiet footsteps made their way towards town. A face dull, drained with any emotion. Not even the thought of his sister being taken away made his facial expression twitch just a bit.

He was trapped for years within the cold, lonely void that was the Demon-World. Ruled by the mighty hollow kings, but one of said kings actually helped him escape the Demon-World.

Now he wanders around the world searching for a challenge, searching for his sister, wanting to protect her but also wanting to prove his superiority against anyone stupid enough to challenge him.

The clouds darkened considerably, and an ominous breeze blew the leaves on the trees. As if the man's presence in itself was scaring the environment.

Slowly, and slowly the man evaded huge logs with green leaves, edging closer to Karakura Town with every motionless step he took.

A huge brown creature appeared in front of the walking devil-man himself, roaring in the face of the little demon. His teeth dipped with a mass amount of saliva, and a gleam was seen in the bear's eye.

He must have had a death wish or something.

The man's face didn't change. It remained undisturbed as the Bear yelled into his face, "Grrrrrr!" The breath of the bear blew the purple hair of the little man to the side. "Grrrrr." The man could've sworn the bear licked his lips at him.

It didn't matter because the bear's eyes immediately widened as soon as a hand was shoved through his chest and his own heart was dragged out of his body. As the bear fell lifeless to the floor, the little man merely spread it a glance before saying in a cold voice. "I could eat."

With a simple snap of his two fingers the bear's whole body lit up in purple flames. The man's eyes merely opened, revealing sickening bare purple eyes with no visible pupils.

What was he?

As the man sat there, eating away at the bear he mercilessly killed without a second hesitation, he allowed his mind to dwell on the only person he ever truly cared for, "Rukia."

And the only another thing is cares about other than Rukia is… "Fighting," Which brings him to his next important issue, who can take him on? Who can give the mighty Susumu Ogre the fight every warrior with the soul and passion of a true warrior craves, "Naruto?"

* * *

**Elsewhere/Park/With Yoruichi and Naruto**

Yoruichi sat in the park with her leg crossed over the other, a smirk on her face knowing she arrived there first, "Unlucky whiskers-kun."

It didn't take very long for Naruto to arrive. And as soon as he did, he only paled at the sight before him, "Noooooo!" Yoruichi was just sitting on a bench, casually swinging her legs off of the side like an amused child. "Don't make me tell Grammy, Karin-chan and Yuzu-chan that I skipped school and knocked out some gangstas. Please! I'm begging you! Believe it!"

Yoruichi gave him a teasing smile. "Sorry Whiskers-kun that was the agreement. You have to tell Grammy, Karin and Yuzu what you've been up to."

Naruto fell to his knees and pounded the ground in frustration. "Damn!" Why didn't he just transform into a shinigami and use his ultimate form, the Raijin mode. Yoruichi was as fast as sound could be, but sound surely pales in comparison to the speed of lightning. "I should've used my Raijin mode. Then you would've been nothing to me."

Yoruichi gleefully stood up to her feet and strolled over to Naruto. "Oh Whiskers-kun," Ignoring the scowl from Naruto, she embraced the blond-wolf boy in a tight hug. "You should've used your strongest, fastest form against me then. You know you never stood a chance of beating me with such a slow technique."

Naruto might've flushed being so close to the purple haired beauty if not for the fact there was several very familiar whistling sounds. "Sonido?" Naruto wondered. He remembered asking Kisuke about the hollows' speed after he defeated Bobomaru. It was around the time that weird guy saved him and Karin about four months ago. His speed movement sounded difference, but somewhat familiar, to Kisuke's.

Naruto didn't have much time to ponder the difference between the hollows' Sonido and the shinigami's Flash-step because ten hollows all appeared around him and Yoruichi via Sonido. Three looked like lions with their bony white masks shaped like a lion's face and their bodies a coal black color. The next six each looked like mini Gojiras (Godzillas) with dark brown hardened skin and masks morphed to take on the form of a skull head.

And the last one appeared to be the leader of sorts. He had a huge Gojira body with pour black skin and his mask was shaped like a Gojira's face.

Yoruichi's eyes widened as she let go of Naruto and got into a stance, "Adjuchas!" The Adjuchas class hollows all grinned evilly at Naruto. 'They must be after Whiskers-kun's power' she assessed in her mind as to not let Naruto hear her. 'I must protect-' her thoughts were cut short when Naruto stood in front of her and jabbed his arm out to the side, "Whiskers-kun!" Yoruichi sounded astonished. "Those hollows are after you, not-"

"So what," Naruto cut her off, making her gasp. "I don't care. If those hollows want a piece of me then they can come and get me then. Please Cat-Lady-chan, don't interfere. This is my battle and my battle alone. I shall be the one to take down these bastard hollows! Believe It!" Yoruichi opened her mouth to say something but Naruto must've felt her opening her mouth because he quickly added, "Besides, I'm already stronger than you and Shadow-Eyes," he turned his head to look at a widened eyed Yoruichi. "Isn't that right, Cat-Lady-chan?" He shot a wolf-like smirk at her.

Yoruichi's shocked eyes could only widen even more upon glancing at Naruto's wolf fangs. 'Those teeth, he must be a-'Yoruichi cut her own thoughts short as a smirk crossed her face. "Okay Whiskers-kun, if you may. Show me how much stronger you are than me." After all she had been quite eager to see Naruto's true power for herself.

Naruto slapped his face a couple of times to get himself into the mood, "Alright!" He energetically exclaimed as he empathically shoved his hand into his pocket and without a moment hesitation whipped out his soul badge. "Take care of my body Cat-Lady-chan."

Yoruichi nodded, "Of course Whiskers-kun." She was then forced to catch Naruto's physical body because the blond pressed the soul badge onto it and ejected his soul form out of it. "Whoa…" Yoruichi was amazed by the size of Naruto's Zanpakuto. It was long and thin. "Whiskers-kun…" she whispered, awe filling her voice.

The hollows licked their lips as the big Gojira hollow pointed his arm at Naruto, "That power! We must have it!"

Naruto gripped the hilt of his Zanpakuto, keeping his expression cool as the night sky itself. "Whatever." Naruto made a gesture with his free hand, telling Cat-Lady-chan to give him some space. And Yoruichi compiled, flash-stepping over to the top of the slide with Naruto's physical body on her lap.

The Gojira hollow thought Naruto was being arrogant. "Cocky brat. Get him lads!" He ordered the first three lion-like Adjuchas hollows to attack Naruto first, and they compiled without any argument.

Swiftly and skilfully the lion-like Adjuchas class hollows fazed out, closing what little distance they'd between Naruto and themselves with their Sonido. Naruto closed his eyes, allowing the hollows to close in on him. Time slowed down considerably as the lion-like hollows stretched their paw-like hands and opened their mouths wide to swallow the blond whole.

But before they could even land on the ground, a mess amount of blood sprawled out of their bodies, and Naruto looked like he hadn't even so much of flinched from his stance. "Aaaaaaaaaaah!" The lion-like hollows screamed as they all simultaneously disappeared into tiny white spirit particles.

The six mini Gojira-like hollows all gasped a massive amount of air as their jaws fell to the ground. "Holy hell, he took them out like they were nothing!" The six all screamed in unison. But the big Gojira-like hollow kept his face impassive as he watched Naruto with a glint in his empty eye.

Yoruichi smiled. "Incredible! He was able to unsheathe his Zanpakuto within a quarter of a second, spin around like a tornado and slash those hollows' masks like they were made out of bread and butter." She said to herself as she recalled what Naruto had done to the hollows.

But the leader hollow thought a little differently, "Your flash-step is impressive young one." He complimented nonchalantly as he crossed his huge arms over his chest.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Flash-step? I aren't using Flash-step. What makes you say that hollow-san?" He decided to take the piss by speaking casually to the powerful Adjuchas.

The six mini Gojira hollows' eyes all widened and their jaws dropped off of their mouths. "Oh my days, he's not using Flash-step." One of them shouted. And then other finished shakily, "What is he?"

The Adjuchas leader smirked. "So you don't know the Flash-step little one?" He asked and got an honest shake of the head and a smile from the blond shinigami. "Excellent. Get him lads. Just overwhelm him with Sonido, there's no way he'll be able to fend off all six of you."

The six Adjuchas class hollows thought it over for a spilt second before they realized he had a point. Plus they couldn't really argue back seeing as he was the leader and could just devour them if needs be. So… with that on the mind of the six hollows they all leaped into action and vanished from sight to the normal human naked eye.

Naruto smirked, "Too easy. This is a piece of cake for me," Twirling his Zanpakuto around after he had unsheathe it faster than the eye could see, Naruto yelled out the words, "**Kaminari Hatsubai: Subarashii totsunyuu, iraira bakuhatsu (Lightning release: Great penetration raging blast)**!"

Naruto released the tremendously powerful swirling beam of energy from his twirling Zanpakuto; the spinning wave of lightning trapped the hollows the moment they got within range. "Aaaaaaaaaah!" The six hollows screamed in unison as they were all paralyzed by Naruto's silver colored beam of pour immense power.

The big Gojira hollow was shocked out of his mind while Yoruichi could only be more impressed by Naruto's immense power. Honestly, the boy didn't need her help at all. So she leisurely sat down with her left leg crossed over her right leg just as six thin, but speedy beams of lightning dashed through the wave of energy Naruto created and penetrated the hollows' masks.

The hollows didn't even get the chance to let out a bitch scream before they all disappeared into tiny white spirit particles, leaving the leader as the last hollow standing.

"W-What," He stammered. He was speechless. This brat took out all of his minions as if they were nothing, "Y-You." The big Gojira hollow could only relish the moment. "You killed them. Ha, ha. I was meaning to kill those weaklings myself anyhow. Thanks for saving me the time thou, much appreciated."

Naruto's face showed how disgusted he was by the hollow's attitude, "You monster! They were your comrades. How dare you speak about them like that!" He spat on the floor.

The Gojira hollow scoffed. "I like I care about that stuff. They were nothing but tools to me. And now they've served their usefulness." He coldly told the blond, making him widen his eyes. This hollow was a cold bloodied monster. "I shall absorb you now and gain that wonderful strength of yours, little man."

Naruto scoffed as he sliced the air with his Zanpakuto, creating a shockwave that knocked the hollow back a bit, "You stupid bastard! I'll tell you one thing, and that's you're not going to heaven like those hollows!"

The hollow raised an eyebrow, "Oh! And where might I be going then, kiddo?"

Naruto kept his words short, sweet and to the point, "To hell."

The hollow let out an amused laugh. "As if a mere boy could send me, the mighty Neikan, to the Demon-World. Ha, ha, ha, ha. I'm amused by the thought kiddo."

Naruto didn't respond but instead narrowed his eyes at the Adjuchas class hollow now known as Neikan, meaning wicked and treacherous. Yoruichi decided to make sure Naruto stayed on his toes. "Be careful Whiskers-kun. This hollow lives up to his name." Ain't that the truth?

Naruto flashed Yoruichi the thumbs up, which she returned with her trademark cat-like smirk. "I got this Cat-Lady-chan." Naruto got into a stance. "Let's go Neikan-teme."

Neikan got into a stance of his own, "Of course, meal-san." Naruto didn't let Neikan's little taunt get to him. And it's a good thing he didn't because Neikan immediately fazed out, surprising Naruto with his speed.

"Not bad." Naruto complimented as he done an aerobatic back flip just as Neikan reappeared before him, slashing thin air. "You're pretty good, but not good enough to beat me." Naruto came right back at Neikan, driving in on the Adjuchas hollow with a soaring kick.

Neikan smirked before he jumped into the air and held his hands above his head, bringing them down beneath the flying Naruto. The blond gagged for air as Neikan clobbered him into the ground, making debris dust arise around them.

"Whiskers-kun!" Yoruichi shouted, concern coloring her voice.

Before Yoruichi could stand up, Neikan jolted straight out of the dust cloud like a soaring missile. And once the smoke cleared, Naruto was revealed holding his leg up while lying on his back, glaring up at the hollow he sent soaring high into the air.

"He's good." Naruto exclaimed, knowing he cannot afford to take this Adjuchas lightly. "I've got to go all out to win!"

Naruto fazed out, reappearing behind the airborne Neikan. Zanpakuto gripped tightly in his left hand, Naruto swung it ferociously at Neikan's back. Neikan must've seen him slightly because he pivoted with an impressive spin and blocked Naruto's Zanpakuto with his right arm.

It took a considerable amount of effort but Naruto managed to cut through Neikan's skin, eliciting a sharp scream of pain from Neikan. "Aaaaaaaaah!" Blood dipped out of his sliced up right arm. "You bitch!" He yelled as he crashed his head into Naruto's, almost busting open the blonde's head just from the sheer force he used to hit Naruto with.

Naruto wasn't about to let the bastard get away with cheap hitting him like that, and immensely implanted both feet into Neikan's abdomen, like an enraged child that couldn't get its way.

A blood spat all over Naruto's face as he drove Neikan straight into the ground, creating a crater from the power he used.

Ignoring the impressed whistle from Cat-Lady-chan, Naruto lifted his Zanpakuto above his head, and slicing the air as fast as he could muster, Naruto stabbed at Neikai's mask.

He hit nothing but mash ground because Neikan just about managed to use Sonido to get behind Naruto. And Naruto soon found himself damaging the ground during a nice ride Neikan had sent him on with a banging punch to his back. "You won't defeat me! I'll eat you and gain that wonderful strength of yours."

Naruto groaned as he sat up and held his back, "Yeah right! You couldn't absorb a cat, wimp!" The Adjuchas didn't take too kindly to that taunt and lunged in on Naruto with a flying head-butt.

Naruto decided he was done playing around as he narrowed his eyes and reached for the white head-cloth wrapped around his forehead. "I haven't taken this off since I put it on." Neikan stopped his charging, curious to why Naruto hadn't removed his headband until now. "This'll only take a second to finish once I release my full powered Raijin mode."

Neikan might've laughed at that claim from Naruto but he didn't get the chance because the white headband was already gripped in Naruto's left hand.

**BOOM!**

Yoruichi held onto Naruto's physical body as she was forced to hold onto the slide as tight as she could from the immense power that Naruto had released. "Whoa… unreal," The boy had far surpassed her and Kisuke.

Neikan, who was blown onto his back, sat up and his eyes immediately widened like Yoruichi's had when she first got a glimpse of Naruto's true power. Several ridges of electricity were seen swirling around Naruto's Zanpakuto, and the kanjis on his sword lit up in a shiny blue color.

The ground underneath Naruto's feet was also cracked as if the earth couldn't support Naruto's outrageous strength.

Neikan licked his lips. If he could just absorbed Naruto, then he would be unstoppable. "I must have your power."

Naruto didn't listen to him but instead wave his hand over his huge Zanpakuto and called out the words, "**Full powered**** Raijin mode**!"

Another explosion, but only this time a large blue aura was skyrocketed into the sky at lightning speed. Yoruichi felt her hair sway upwards on its own accord as Naruto focused his magnificent form.

If Yoruichi and Neikan weren't amazed before they sure were now. Naruto's whole body had completely transformed into a flaming, shiny blue, condensed electricity. He looked naked with all the electricity covering everything but the blonde's eyes.

Neikan stood frozen in place as lightning radiated off of Naruto and surged everywhere around the park, cuddling an awestruck Yoruichi as it did.

This was the first time Naruto had activated his full powered Raijin mode. There was the time he'd transformed into his 40% Raijin mode when he defeated the hollow formerly known as Bobomaru. But had never fully unleashed his maximum form…

…until now, and the blond had to admit, it felt awesome.

Neikan's jaw dropped to the ground, "W-What power!"

Naruto stuck out his tongue and held his Zanpakuto to the side, "Goodbye." He said in a childish manner before he sliced the air with his Zanpakuto.

Neikan stood still, blinking, seemingly unaffected by Naruto's 'strike.' "What-?" He stopped himself mid-sentence because his mask fell to the ground. "Nooooo!" He screamed as his body floated into mid-air, seemingly on its own accord.

Naruto watched in fasciation as the sky darkened considerably and a large gate appeared from out of nowhere, levitating behind the floating hollow. The large gate had a skull shape on the front of it as well as a rope across it. It was dark black with red outlines around its form. Naruto held a questionable look on his face as the door slowly opened, allowing Naruto to get a feel for power beyond anything he'd ever felt before, and the blond only paled to it.

A vacuum-like wind sucked the hollow in before the gate closed again, and the door disappeared like it wasn't even there in the first place.

"Whoa…" Naruto was speechless. "That power. It was overwhelming-" He was bought out of his thoughts by the sound of clapping hands.

"Good work whiskers-kun." Yoruichi complimented as she stood up on the slide, smiling pleasantly at Naruto. "Not even I could keep up with your Raijin mode's speed," Shocking. Yoruichi never thought she'd live to see the day someone would surpass her speed so immensely. "And you banished Mr hollow to the Demon-World. That's where all bad hollows that can't get purified because they've committed such bad deeds within their life span go."

"Well that explains the huge door." Naruto commented. His Raijin mode created a ring of lightning that was twirling around his feet. Yoruichi had to admit, he looked awesome. "I wonder why so many hollows showed up at once though."

Yes that was strange. And Yoruichi would've get to the bottom of that. "Don't worry Whiskers-kun, I'll go head back to Kisuke's and see if he knows anything about this hollow attack. I've placed my number in your phone and via versa." That was sweet. She must love him. She deserved a smack for that. "I'll be off then." Yoruichi turned around and prepared to flash-stepped to Kisuke's.

And she would've left successfully if not for an electric shock that surged up from her rear-end all the way through her body, making her hair sway upwards as if she had just transformed into Naruto's Raijin mode herself. "Ow! Whiskers-kun!" Yoruichi was electrified as she held her smoking ass that was radiating electricity off of it.

Naruto stood at the side of Yoruichi with his hand extended towards her backside. "What?" He asked nonchalantly, "I only spanked you. What's the big deal?"

Yoruichi looked mortified the blond could slap a woman on her ass while in his full powered Raijin mode like he was allowed to do it. "Didn't your grandma teach you any manners? You can't just go about spanking women Whiskers-kun." She let her hands fall from her ass.

Naruto laughed. "Says you," With that he gave her one last spank on the ass before grabbing his physical body, bag filled with money and vanished even before Yoruichi had the chance to squeal from getting her ass spanked by Naruto again.

"He's such a pervert." Yoruichi smiled cheekily. She would get him back for that.

* * *

**Elsewhere/Spirit world**

It was a grand place with many floating platforms making up the environment. Many buildings were on the platforms with nothing but the most powerful of warriors living among them. The sky was a shining gold color, as if it took a massive amount of energy to contain such light consistently.

Above all of the floating platforms was a huge palace with a golden aura bathed around it.

Inside of the palace was an office that had a brown desk, a red chair with a tiny little man sitting in it stamping a mountain amount of paperwork his scary boss made him do. The walls were decorated neatly, painted in a light blue color. And the door to the office was painted red.

There was also a big screen above the red door. The screen displayed a prodigy bathed in a shiny blue aura, defeating a powerful Adjuchas hollow within one invisible-to-the-naked-eye strike. Even when the little man reversed the scene and played it in super slow motion, it was still hard to see.

The little man would've been amazed by the boy's power if not for the fact he spanked Yoruichi on her ass... twice

The little man only paled at the sight. "If Anna-sama ever meets that kid she'd destroy him."

Asakura Anna, the wife of the spirit king, and the second most powerful warrior of all the shinigami of the Soul Society. And how the years have changed the way of not only fighting but how the spirit world worked too. It seemed like only yesterday when the little man could recall seeing Anna torture his best friend and the Spirit King himself, Asakura Yoh.

And it all changed on that faithful day when those demons attacked and brought chaos to the world, eradicating the most powerful warriors like they were nothing. They forced Yoh to merge with the Shaman King, basically turning himself into an immortal Kami. (God)

After a fierce battle Yoh managed to imprison the Demonoids by sealing them away into the Demon-World. With them being all Kami-classed hollows, they'd no chance of slipping through the barrier Yoh designed to keep overwhelming hollows locked firmly in.

And thus the rebuilding of the world and spirit world began.

The little man who had brown hair with the bangs of his hair hanging between his eyes and big around orbs for eyes. He was wearing a green jumper-hoody, cream coloured trousers and sandals on his feet. He momentarily looked up towards the ceiling. "I can't believe how long it has been."

The sliding door opened and made the little man stumble over his desk. A lady, who was tall in comparison to the short man, walked nonchalantly into the room. She had short blond hair that reached her shoulders and she had a red bandana tied around her neck. She was also wearing a black dress and black sandals on her feet. "Who told you to slack off Manta?" The woman asked him in a cold voice.

The man now known as Manta sputtered nervously, "No Anna-sama I was just looking at the screen watching that kid Y-." A sharp glare from Anna told Manta he better address Yoh probably. "What I meant to say I was watching that kid Kami-sama's interested in."

Anna scoffed as she crossed her arms over chest. "That still doesn't give you an excuse to slack off mister." She said sternly and Manta was sweating bullets. "But that's irrelevant at this point." Manta breathed easy for the time being. Anna sure was one fearsome woman. "I need you to send a message down to the Seireitei. Tell them to send Captain-Hitsugaya and Lieutenant Matsumoto down to the World of the Living this instant."

Manta didn't need to be told twice. But still he asked, curious to know why them, "Why send Captain-Hitsugaya-san and Lieutenant Matsumoto-chan?"

Anna stared at Manta impassively, "Simple. I want to see how well this Uzumaki-boy will do against another prodigy. And also because Kuchiki-san hasn't returned yet, she was due back a week ago. So I'll be sending Captain-Hitsugaya and Lieutenant Matsumoto to withdraw her in," In other words: capture her.

Anna wanted to see how Uzumaki Naruto would fare going against an A-class Captain. She obviously knew the boy was a high A-class shinigami by sensing his spiritual pressure, but does he have the skills and experience necessary to take on the high A-class Captains?

That was where Hitsugaya came in. He should provide a good challenge for Naruto, and it would also give Anna the chance to assess all of Naruto's skills.

Honestly, what'd Kami-sama see in the boy she would never know? However, he was interested in Naruto's abilities and had ruled over the Soul Society for a considerable amount of time. Not to mention he defeated Hao and saved the world from his wrath a million years ago. So Anna should've faith in him.

Manta sighed, "I'll get on it then."

* * *

**I'm Flint009, and I'm signing off, peace and have a day!**


	13. Spontaneous Assault

**Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman king, Naruto or Bleach**

* * *

**Chapter 13**

**Spontaneous Assault **

**Karakura Middle School – With Karin and Yuzu**

**Just before Naruto releases his Raijin mode**

The girls sat in the classroom listening to the boring lecture given to them by Miss Riko, taking a few notes every once in a while. At times they'd miss a certain word and not be able to write a note down because of it. That was because their minds were elsewhere for different reasons; Karin kept grinding her teeth, muttering that she'd kill Naruto for lying to them. The blonde did promise them that he would attend class because they were in it.

Yuzu was rightly worried and a little hurt by Naruto's absence. One part of Yuzu told her that Naruto may've gotten himself into another street brawl and wound up on the receiving end of an ass kicking was once. The other side told her that Naruto may've just disregarded the promise he made to them and chosen to skip school on purpose. And that made Yuzu's heart ache, "Naruto-kun."

How could Naruto be like that? He had always respected any promises he made to the girls. So in all likelihood he should be in class, but he was not. And it got Yuzu's anxiety rising because she didn't want her Naruto-kun to get himself kicked out of school, eventually ending up on the streets as he grows older.

And Yuzu knew Karin wouldn't want Naruto to get himself expelled from school. She knew just by glancing slightly at her twin sister, the way she was so mad about Naruto skipping school proved she cared as much for Naruto as Yuzu did herself.

But wait, wouldn't that mean that Naruto's their boyfriend? Pinkness stained Yuzu's cheeks at the thought. Could twin sisters even share a boyfriend? Naruto had always treated the Kurosaki sisters as if they were his girlfriends ever since he hit publicity by his twelfth birthday.

Bit early to be thinking about girls, but what could Naruto say? He just loved girls/women. Loved them so much that after he turned twelve he'd personally taken it upon himself to give Yuzu and Karin a bit of (ahem) fresh air up side of their skirts. That usually resulted in Karin smashing her hand into Naruto's face as punishment. Not that it did anything to 'teach' the blond a lesson. In fact it only made Naruto want to lift up their skirts more. As if he enjoyed the beating Karin gave him or he wanted them to get used to him doing that.

And sure enough they'd started to allow Naruto the privilege of assessing their skirts, knowing it'd be futile to keep on hitting him. Seriously the guy must've been made out of some special-resistance-against-hitting rubber armour. The damage he could take was almost unbelievable.

A delicate voice made Yuzu raise her head off of her desk. "What's the answer Kurosaki-san?" Miss Riko inquired because she had asked a question to Yuzu. She seemed pretty impatience because her hands were on her hips and her foot was tapping the floor. "I'm only going to repeat this once." Miss Riko exclaimed with a hint of irritation evident in her voice, "What's the Caribbean island country with the highest elevation?"

Yuzu's eyes snapped wide open. She hadn't noticed she had been switching off. Getting straight back on track, Yuzu answered quickly, "Pico Duarte, 10,416, feet in the Dominican Republic." Luckily she was a smart girl, so she was off the hook without anything more than a nod of approval. 'That was a close one.' Yuzu breathed a sigh of relief.

A soft elbow that was jabbed in Yuzu's arm made her snap her head to the side to see her and Karin's friend Kako with a worried expression on her features. "What's wrong with Karin-chan?" She asked in a whisper of a voice as she pointed her finger at Karin.

Yuzu thought about inquiring on the matter at hand but chose to operate against it because Miss Riko might hear her. So she instead snapped her head to her beloved twin sister in question. It was then her eyes widened at the sight before her. "Karin-chan," Karin was done with her rant about Naruto because she was holding her head, looking in real discomfort. "What's wrong?"

Luckily Miss Riko had turned her back on the two girls and was quite loudly educating the rest of the bored out of their minds students. "It's nothing… sis." Karin tried to reassure in a return whisper, she'd failed to assure that everything was okay because her words sounded stained.

Karin's eyes widened and that made Yuzu and Kako widen their own eyes. "What? Karin-chan, did you remember something bad?" Yuzu asked, curious to know why Karin was looking so astounded. And more shockingly, Karin didn't reply, but instead stared blankly at the window, "Karin-chan." Yuzu went to reach a hand was her twin sister's shoulder, "Please snap out of it," Karin still wouldn't respond, eliciting a sigh out of Yuzu who turned her head to see what Karin was looking at.

It was then that Yuzu's eyes went wide with shock glancing at what Karin bared witnessed to. A huge line of blue thunder soared ferociously into the sky, ripping it apart as it continued on its way towards the deep boundaries of space.

Yuzu and Karin looked completely astonished, where'd that strange lightning come from? And why'd no one else other than them notice that large lightning? And this was confirmed when Kako caught glimpse of Yuzu and Karin looking so disconcerted at the window and turned her head to gaze at what they were glancing at.

'What'd they see?' Kako asked herself, not seeing or hearing anything of the sort that'd make shock expressions appear over Karin and Yuzu's faces. It left her more puzzled when the Kurosaki girls glanced at each other with narrowed eyes, as if an unspoken agreement was made between them. 'I'll have to ask them about it later'

Karin and Yuzu turned their attention back towards Miss Riko, who'd shifted her body to discuss the matter she was talking about, neither Yuzu nor Karin were interested in what she'd to say. But instead chose to assess who could've probably unleashed such immense lightning like that, 'Naruto.' Both girls realized, Karin more so than Yuzu because she was able to sense Naruto's energy when the blond released his Raijin mode.

It felt strange thou.

* * *

**Elsewhere – With Naruto**

Naruto loved the thought of Yoruichi's rear-ass radiating smoke off of it after he gave her a good spanking. And he knew she loved it deep down, he bet she did. Her black trousers must've been burned on the back from the electrified smack Raijin Naruto had given her.

"I may as well test out my strength while I'm in Raijin mode for the next six minutes." Not too shabby. It took the blond less than ten seconds to send Neikan to the 'Demon-World' to be tortured by the all-powerful energy Naruto had felt within the gate of the Demon-World.

What was that anyway? Naruto had never sensed such tremendous spirit energy before. His own, Strawberry's (Ichigo's), Teme's (Ryosuke's), Cat-Lady-chan's (Yoruichi's), Shadow-Eyes' (Kisuke's) Bobomaru's, and that weird guy that saved him and Karin before, all of their spiritual pressures combined paled in comparison to even a glimpse of that power he'd sensed.

That was some scary shit.

And it just made Naruto want to get that much stronger so he could stand on par and beyond to the powerful creature he had sensed within the Demon-World.

"Guess it's time for training." Naruto said as he appeared in a blur of lightning on top of a story-high block. It probably wasn't the best place to hide his body, seeing as there was a fire exit door on the rooftop. However… "It'll have to do." The lightning beast of a shinigami stated as he hurled his empty physical body onto the top of the fire exit door. At least this way no one would see his lifeless shall.

He would've checked his phone to see what Cat-Lady-chan had preferred to herself as. But he knew better than that. He was sure he would've destroyed his phone just by touching it while in his Raijin mode.

Hey! That shown he was getting smarter. Good one on Naruto's part. "I'm so smart now. Yuzu-chan and Karin-chan will be so proud of me." Naruto blessedly commented to himself as the lightning-man folded his arms behind his head and smiled cheekily to himself. Of course when reality sunk in that Karin and/or Yuzu wouldn't be proud but furious with him for skipping school, Naruto slumped his head. "What a bumper…" He sighed in a defeated voice.

Girls could hold grudges forever. And if one boy had two girls that lived together it could sure be one hell of a hard time that was for sure. They could always double team on the poor/lucky fool, sending him straight to the doghouse.

Naruto may've paled at the thought of Karin and Yuzu putting him in the doghouse, if he hadn't clocked onto the time he had left in his Raijin mode. "Five minutes left!" He had better get some serious training time in. Or at least see what he could do while powered up in his maximum form.

Maybe see if he could lift something that weighed an absolutely ton. And just like that, Naruto got an invisible light bulb above his head. Maybe being in Raijin mode helped his brain process at the speed of lightning. But he didn't have the time to ponder his superfast brain because he had more important things to do.

And with not another word uttered, Naruto vanished, moving at lightning speed to reach his prior destination. A thunderous roar was left echoing through the city as Naruto got off like the beast that he was.

**Seconds Later – on a beach**

The Raijin wolf-boy reappeared so fast and so far away from where his physical body was Superman would've been proud of him. Seriously though, the lightning beast must've been at least 30 miles away from where he had left his physical body on top of a huge building within the busy jam-packed streets of the high street.

Naruto didn't waste any more time admiring his own speed and instead chose to glance around the sandy shore of the beach he arrived in within ten seconds. Thankfully no one was around to see what he was going to do. He could only imagine the awe looks the blue sea creature would receive if people see it 'flying' in the air on its own accord.

That was because not everyone had the kind of special ability him, Strawberry, Ryosuke-teme, Rukia, Ryosuke-teme's mom, his grandmother Tomoyo (oddly enough), and Doctor Scar-teme all had.

How strange. After the training the blond would've to make a mental note to go into the reason why so many of his family, friends, enemies, rivals, and love ones have such immense spiritual pressure/awareness. Even Yuzu-chan and Karin-chan both have some sort of spiritual awareness.

Well Karin-chan was obvious because Shadow-Eyes had told him because he was around Karin-chan so much he ended up passing some of his spiritual power onto her. So maybe the same happened to Yuzu-chan? Was it possible that a bit of Naruto's incredible power slipped into his precious Yuzu-chan?

"Possibly," Raijin Naruto commented to himself as he vanished over to the deep part of the ocean because his super vision caught wind of the tremendously huge sea creature doing high backflips before landing into the cool water that was its home.

**Splash! **

The blue whale came leaping out of the water in a fantastic aerobic flip. Impressive feat for such a huge creature to accomplish. Now all that was left to do was for the 300, 000 pound mammoth of a sea creature to fall back into the surface of the water and re-try his high jump.

The only problem with that was it seemed harder to fall back into the ocean all of a sudden. And it appeared as though the blue whale was slowly being levitated into the air.

Now that couldn't be right. Whales don't fly. Whoever heard of that. The whale felt two small hands underneath it and it was soon electrocuted because of it. "What the hell?" Naruto wondered to himself, clearly he was shocked that he was seemingly floating on thin air. "I'm flying!"

At that moment, a familiar voice chose to speak up and clarify how Naruto could do what he was doing. "**Do not worry, young disciple"**. It was Raijin Yasuhiro's voice. "**You've concentrated**** your spiritual ****energy in the core of your feet****, thus allowing you to fly all over the place at lightning speed. And that's only because you're in Raijin mode."**

Naruto, while holding up the 300,000 pound blue whale with the slightest of ease, used one of his hands to rub the back of his head a bit sheepishly. "Oh, so that's how I'm flying. Awesome!" Naruto then glanced up at the blue whale he was holding like it was no more than a mere game case. "Whoa… I'm so powerful while I'm in Raijin mode… Believe it."

If Naruto could lift a 300, 000 pound blue whale with one arm only like it was nothing, then just imagine what his maximum lifting capability could be. "I could lift up a whole mountain… maybe." It was a possibility after all.

Yasuhiro decided to inform the blond his strength had improved overall after successfully going into his Raijin mode. "**Not to mention Naruto that your normal base form****'s strength**** has rapidly increased as well." **He could feel his wielder's face beaming. "**I would say you would be able to pick up a car or a huge rhino** **in your base human form."**

Naruto was so happy that in his joy he threw the whale straight up into the air, eliciting a cry of fear out of the whale that was on the verge of running out of breath. "Awesome! I'm so going to carry my car home. When I am old enough to afford and to drive one of course, believe It." he laughed sheepishly at the end.

Yasuhiro spoke one last time before the blue whale died because of the lack of water it was receiving. "**Um… Naruto, I think now would be the best time to let the whale fall back into the ocean."**

Naruto caught the whale on top of his left hand and saw that it looked pale and its chest was heavily in and out in an unsteadily way. "Oops." With a sheepish look, Naruto let the blue whale fall from his grasp. The creature landed into the water.

The water splashed up before the whale poke its head up to send a glare at Naruto. "Haha," Naruto chuckled nervously. "My bad," He exclaimed with an apologetic look on his face. The whale appeared to be satisfied because it nodded its head before taking off deep into the ocean. "Now, what should I do now?"

There was no way he was going back to school. Especially since school would be finished in the next 20 minutes or so. And if he were to go to school now, one would bet Karin and Yuzu would be waiting to nag Naruto into submission.

He could've flew to Chinatown and back if not for the fact he had little under a minute left before his Raijin mode runs out. Damn! Why couldn't he have unlimited time in his Raijin mode, it was just so fun to speed around the place at such speed one couldn't even see the whiskers on his cheeks. Not that one could see them anyway, as his Raijin mode seemed to cover everything barring his eyes.

With only a little time left before his Raijin mode expired on him, Naruto flew off, back to his physical body. Naruto would decide what to do after he gets back into his physical body. And hopefully no Adjuchas class hollows would try and attack him again, at least until Naruto could replenish his Raijin mode power.

It was like his grandma once said to him. With great power, comes great responsibility. The blond knew he must use his Raijin mode wise-fully.

* * *

**Tomoyo's house – With Tomoyo and Yuichi **

The old lady rushed home as fast as she could. She didn't know why Goro had even left her alive for. Was he that confident in his ability to capture Rukia? Did the person or thing Goro assigned to kidnap the sister of the deadly Oni-like man that powerful?

It gave Tomoyo a headache just thinking about Goro's motives. At least when he was seven his goals were easy to figure out. He only desired peace back then, not ending the Soul Society and everyone in it. Even if he did hate the Spirit King, which was an understandable enough of a reason why the black haired man would despise the Godlike man that rules over the Soul Society.

After all Tomoyo knew how much Goro loved his mother and even his father to a lesser extent. It made him sick to his stomach once he found out that the Spirit King ordered the shinigami Captains and Lieutenants to eradicate the entire Quincy army.

But even after all that Goro only desired peace. He traversed himself onto the road of enlightenment. A road Tomoyo wished her beloved grandson Uzumaki Naruto would take.

Tomoyo could dream though. Dream of a beautiful world where everyone, Shinigamis, Quincies, and Hollows alike could get along, and most importantly there would be no killing… in a perfect world… unfortunately said world doesn't exist. Everlasting peace doesn't exist.

And Tomoyo sadly knew this. The only thing she could do was let the shinigami deal with the hollows, knowing when they slash a hollow across its mask they permit them to enter the Soul Society. And that was only if the hollow hadn't committed such evil crimes within the time they were alive.

"Grandma," Yuichi tugged on Tomoyo's arm as she opened the door to her house and walked through the door. "What's going to happen to nii-chan? And that Rukia-girl that scary man wants to take." He was frightened for Naruto's safety ever since Goro said he would be taking on his army of hollows.

That reminded Tomoyo that she saw a streak of lightning flash straight towards the sky as she was travelling home at top speed. She was certain it was Naruto in his Raijin mode. Kisuke had informed her that Naruto had a lightning Zanpakuto and that it was so powerful Kisuke had failed to even sense a bit of Naruto's power.

Even being miles away from Naruto, Tomoyo knew the boy was far above her, in every department. Speed, strength, power, whatever way Tomoyo looked at it Naruto outclassed her. Even in her prime Naruto still far surpassed her. Not that Tomoyo herself was everything special when she was at her best.

The old lady was sure Ichigo and Ryosuke would be far stronger than her when they awake their potential. Both lads were yet to fully tap into their power, the tremendously powerful immense Zanpakutos hidden deep within them. The only reason Tomoyo could sense their potentials was because both Ichigo and Ryosuke were yet to unlock them. Like the time when Rukia was able to sense Naruto's hidden energy back when the blond had first fought Mr S.

Not that she would be able to sense Naruto's energy, not a chance. Unless Naruto lowers his power for Rukia, she would have no chance.

Cuddling Yuichi close, Tomoyo spoke in a soft voice. "Do not worry Yuichi-chan. Naruto-chan's strong. A few hollows aren't going to be a problem for him." Her words seemed to relax Yuichi as she started ascending the stairs of her house.

The boy remembered watching Naruto dominate the mean hollow that killed his mother before his terrified eyes. The blond was amazing. He held off that monster like it were no more than a mere fly to him. "Nii-chan should be okay. But what about that girl that man wants to kidnap?" Yuichi asked, eyes tearing up at the prospect of someone getting hurt.

Tomoyo gently caressed Yuichi's hair, "Don't worry I will make sure no harm comes to Rukia-chan." She reached Naruto and Yuichi's room and placed the boy on his bed. "I need you to be brave little one and wait for my return."

"You're going to be leaving me by myself grandma Tomoyo." Yuichi asked to make sure. His eyes shown he didn't want to be left by himself.

Tomoyo lightly shushed Yuichi with a loving tone in her voice. "Do not worry my boy. I'll tell my friend to come over and keep an eye on you."

Yuichi nodded dimly. "How long will your friend take to come here grandma? I hope you won't be gone too long."

Tomoyo opened up a draw on the cabinet in Naruto's room and pulled out a green bottle with some sort of green liquid in it. "He'll be here soon enough Yuichi-chan." She also took out a cloth, unscrewed the top off of the bottle and poured a little bit of the liquid onto the cloth. "Now sleep Yuichi-chan."

Before Yuichi could ask about the liquid, Tomoyo lightly pressed it onto the boy's face. He felt his eyes get heavy and he felt drowsy before he let the darkness take over, drifting off to dreamland.

Tomoyo glanced at the sleeping bottle with a regretful look on her face. "I'm sorry Yuichi-chan, but it'll be better off if you rest for a bit. I'll phone Isshin-kun and make sure he comes around to watch you."

Tomoyo walked out of Yuichi's room and into the hallway. Glancing over her shoulder, as if to make sure no one had seen her, Tomoyo reached up towards the ceiling and pulled on a little string sticking out of it. A square patch in the ceiling opened and out popped a set of brown stairs. Tomoyo tested her abilities by taking one big giant leap upwards, managing to successfully get into the basement with one slick movement.

She moved stealthily through the dusty room, every so often moving spider-webs out of her face. She coughed as she evaded the many boxes that she had stored up in the basement.

She would have to remember to come back up here and give it a good spring cleaning. Lord have mercy on her soul. Or perhaps she may let Naruto clean out the basement when the whiskered-faced boy returns home…

**Gasp!**

Reality sunk into Tomoyo's head, realizing if Goro sent his hollow army after Naruto that meant either the kids at Karakura Middle School were in danger, or the blond was out and about when he weren't allowed to be.

Tomoyo wasn't so much worried about Yuzu and Karin, knowing for a fact that Naruto would fight tooth and nail to protect his precious ladies friends. However, that didn't really imply to the other kids.

Without a second thought Tomoyo grabbed what she'd come into the basement for and jumped out of it with her mobile phone in hand. "I sure hope Karin-chan and Yuzu-chan are alright." So she was worried after all. But hey, she had known the Kurosaki girls since they were kids. So it was only natural for her to be concern for the girls' well-being.

Tomoyo waited for Naruto to pick up his phone after she had hit dial. The old Quincy impatiently tapped her foot onto the surface of the floor as the phone just kept on ringing. "Come on. Come on. Come on." She repeated before a hyperactive voice spoke through the phone. "Listen Naruto-chan-" Tomoyo cut off herself.

"_This is Uzumaki Naruto! And I can't speak with you right now because I'm probably doing something awesome right now like __kissing my hot girls! And yeah I have two hot twins as my girlfriends. Believe it. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha." _Believe it? Now that was new to Tomoyo.

Tomoyo palmed her face as she let out an exasperated sign. Voicemail, what else could it have been? But then why would Naruto not pick up his phone? Did the hollows eat him? Preposterous! It would take the kami-ranked hollows to devour Naruto. And there was no way in hell Goro had enough power to tame the Kami-ranked hollows. No one, not even the Spirit King, had the strength to order the Kami-ranked hollows around.

So that only left the possibility Naruto had skipped school and doesn't want to face his grandma until he could think of a lame ass excuse that would get him off of the hook.

"_This is Uzumaki Naruto! And I can't-" _Tomoyo angrily cancelled her second attempt at trying to reach Naruto. "That boy…" A tick appeared on Tomoyo's forehead. "… I'll phone Karin-chan. See if she knows where he is."

* * *

**Karakura Middle School – With Yuzu and Karin**

It had almost been quite uneventful for the two Kurosaki twins after they bared witness to the huge lightning that roofed the sky apart. How they had wished that would be it. That everything from there would remain normal and they could just finish their schoolwork and go home after that.

…In a perfect world that may've happened.

Things only got weirder and a whole lot scarier for the Kurosaki twins. Because literally a minute after the thunder had disappeared, a large, black, ominous and dangerously-looking gate blurred into existence from out of nowhere!

The girls wanted to scream their heads off. And their eyes could only widen upon realizing that no one else other than them could see the skeleton-looking door thing that appeared and vanished as quickly as it came.

What the hell was going on?

That was the thought both Yuzu and Karin were having throughout the majority of the class. How could they be the only ones that saw the devil's door floating in the sky like the evil-god himself would walk out at any moment.

And what a nightmare that'd be if the devil strolled out of the gate and began wreaking havoc on the unsuspecting civilians of the earth's habitations. And these potential scarred-for-life-like thoughts kept Yuzu and Karin from doing their work. The girls were so distracted that they didn't even notice the loud ringing sound echoing throughout the class. They had even stayed still when the other kids were gathering their books and were wandering out of the classroom.

Two soft hands landed on one of each of the Kurosaki girls' shoulders. "Karin-chan, Yuzu-chan," Kako started with concern coloring her voice. "Class has ended. We can go now." She looked really concerned for her two friends. They had been staring off into space for around two minutes now. That wasn't cool.

A snap of the heads from the sisters bought them out of their stupors, "Oh, sorry Kako-chan." Yuzu started first, apologizing to their friend Kako. And Karin finished it off when she saw the expectant look on Miss Riko's features. "I apologize for our behaviour, Miss-Riko-senpai."

Miss Riko nodded, seemingly tolerate with the girls, for now that was. "Very well Karin-chan. See that it doesn't happen again." Or there'd be trouble. The girls could tell just by looking at her. "And see that Uzumaki-san gets his homework, could you?"

A sigh of relief came from both girls' mouth. Extra homework was the very least what Naruto could've expected for skipping class. He could've gotten worst. He was just lucky that Miss Riko happened to love him above all the other teachers, so she usually goes easy on him.

With a bit of a jitter, Yuzu walked over to Miss Riko with her sister Karin and Kako by her side. "Thank you Miss Riko. I'll see to it that Naruto-kun gets his homework right away." Yuzu promised with a bow, eliciting a nod of approval from Miss Riko. "Naruto-kun's got a lot of work to do." Yuzu took the paperwork from Miss Riko and cuddled it with one arm.

"Please see that he completes it." Miss Riko ordered and Yuzu nodded before strolling out of the classroom with Karin and Kako by her side.

Karin walked out of the classroom after Yuzu and Kako had and closed the door behind her. "Alright sis, I think we should go find Naruto."

Yuzu hummed. "I was thinking around the same lines Karin-chan."

Kako decided to voice her concerns to her two closest friends in school. "Yuzu-chan, Karin-chan, I don't think it'll be good to hang out with the blond-boy," Of course. Kako didn't like Naruto. In fact no one other than Karin, Yuzu and some other boy liked Uzumaki Naruto and/or Kagoshima Ryosuke. One could guess that they simply weren't cool enough.

Karin gave her a deadpan look. "Oh, and what are you implying, Kako-chan." Her eyes slightly narrowed at her good friend, causing Kako to take an involuntary step back.

Yuzu held up her index finger, "Naruto-kun's a good person when you get to know him, Kako-chan." She reasonably spoke matter-of-factly. "You just got to get to know him. I know he isn't here right now, but there's no reason to hold that against him though."

Kako wasn't convinced though. "But I heard that Uzumaki and Kagoshima are both hooligans or gang leaders, or something. And that they both are ring leaders that consistently do battle against one another. They're dangerous."

Sighs of exasperation came from both Karin and Yuzu. Seriously, rumours could be so troublesome. It had most of the teachers and students thinking that Naruto and Ryosuke were two dangerous gang bosses. Like the Bloods and the Crips over in L.A. they heard about on the news. "You shouldn't believe all those rumours you hear, Kako-san." Karin stated with a soft smile across her face. "Besides, Naruto's special to us."

Kako's eyes widened. "Special?"

Yuzu gave a firm nod in response. "Naruto-kun's really a puppy dog when you get to know him. Really, he is." And she believed that with all her heart. "And that's why we don't want anything to happen to our Naruto-kun." Yuzu stated, eliciting a blush out of Karin who turned her head to hide it.

Kako would've questioned if Karin and Yuzu were both going out with Naruto, but a buzzing sound echoed throughout the air before Karin shoved her hand into her pocket and pulled her phone out. "It's Lady Tomoyo-sama. Let's go Yuzu-chan."

Yuzu nodded before moving closer to Karin. "Bye, bye Kako-chan. See you tomorrow." Kako seemed frozen in shock. Possibly because she found it so hard to believe that a hoodlum like Naruto could've two beautiful girls like Yuzu and Karin.

Yuzu caught up to her sister just as her conversation started with Lady Tomoyo-sama. "Hello Lady Tomoyo-sama, what can I do for you?" Karin inquired, speaking with politeness to Naruto's grandma. She shown respect to all her elders barring her father, because he was an idiot.

Tomoyo greeted. "_Hello Karin-dear, I hope you and Yuzu-chan are alright." _She heard hums of approval from both girls. "_Listen; has Naruto by any chance skip school today? Because he won't answer his phone," she concluded._

If Tomoyo had super x-ray vision that allowed her to see miles away from her current location, she would've bared witness to both Karin and Yuzu shaking their heads with disappointing looks on their pretty faces. "Naruto skipped the last period, Lady Tomoyo-sama." Karin informed dryly. There was no sense in lying about it. Naruto had always exposed himself by not picking up his phone.

A frown was on Tomoyo's old features. "_I was afraid of that_." Tomoyo sighed. "_Karin-chan, can you and Yuzu-chan find and bring Naruto home for me please?_"

"Of course, we were just about to go looking for Naruto right now." Karin replied matter-of-factly. "It'll be no problem to bring him home afterwards."

"_Okay, thank you very much Karin-chan and take care._" Tomoyo advised in a wise tone.

"No problem." Karin responded before she and Tomoyo ended the call. "Ah!" Karin scratched the back of her head. "Well, Lady Tomoyo-sama wants us to find and bring back Naruto to her house."

Yuzu sighed. "Why can't Naruto-kun ever stop skipping school?" She asked, not really expecting an answer to that as she and Karin made their way out of the school building. "I mean it'd be so much better if Naruto-kun would actually imply himself to his studies instead of lacking off."

Karin shrugged. "I don't know sis. But I'll tell you one thing, and that's he'll pay for skipping class when he promised us he wouldn't," Breaking a promise to his self-proclaimed 'twin girlfriends' just wasn't cool to Karin. And she would make sure the blond knew fully the importance of attending school.

Yuzu sweat-dropped, "But how will we find Naruto-kun, Karin-chan? He's got to be thirty miles away from school." She exclaimed as she and Karin reached the stop light of a road they were about to cross.

Karin pressed the stop button and closed her eyes for a brief second. "Don't worry about that sis." Karin assured as she steadied her breathing, allowing the calmness of the air to flow around her body. "Ever since I had those voices in my head I've been able to sense a person's presence." It startled Karin when she realized how much her head hurt every time she was near someone close to her. Like Naruto and Ichigo for example.

Yuzu looked amazed at her twin sister, "Whoa… Karin-chan that's wonderful." She could only hope that Karin's ability would serve as more of an asset than a hindrance.

Karin's eyes cracked open and a smirk grew across her face. "Yeah, it is. But never mind that I found Naruto." The lights flashed green and Karin and Yuzu took off, pacing fast to reach Naruto.

Yuzu held a look of sheer gilt in her eyes as she kept pace with her twin sister Karin. '… Naruto-kun, maybe now you'll start attending school.' Because if he were to get kick out of school then that would lead to a poor job, which in return implied low pay for Naruto.

* * *

**Elsewhere – With Naruto**

Naruto initially returned back to his physical body just as his Raijin mode cancelled out on him and he felt weak because of it. All of his spiritual pressure was completely drained. Man, he knew Raijin mode was powerful but he never thought it'd take the whole of his spirit energy to pull off for ten minutes!

"Ow. My aching back," Naruto moaned to himself as he jumped back into physical body after re-tying the head-seal around his forehead so it'd be on when he next transforms into a shinigami. "Whoever thought Raijin mode would take so much stain on my body." And a hell of a lot of stain too, damn.

Naruto picked up his Adidas bag, flung it over his shoulder, and fazed out, reappearing on the pavement of the story-high tall building. "Ow, shit!" Naruto whined as he held his sore back. He steadied his breathing, "I have to get used to my Raijin mode," he concluded to himself before he spotted a nice jeep parked in front of him.

"Hey…" A idea popped into Naruto's head. "I bet I can lift that car up in my normal base form. Believe it!" Naruto was about to try and lift that blue jeep up until his phone started going off. "I wonder who that could be." Naruto spoke idly to himself as he dug his hand into pocket and pulled out his phone. "Oh shit!" He paled. "It's grandma!" He panicked. "I better just ignore her until I can think of an excuse why I didn't go to school."

So Naruto placed his ringing phone back into his pocket and dashed over to the jeep. "Whoa, this is nice." Naruto complimented before placing both hands underneath the jeep, "Lift with my legs." Naruto steadily rose with the jeep, the jeep slowly coming off of the ground with him.

A man was watching that from afar, "Pfft, what's that crazy kid doing." He wondered, watching Naruto beginning to pick up the jeep above his head. "W-what!" He stammered as his eyes bulged out of his head. "He's actually doin-"

"Yaaaay!" Naruto roared as he held the jeep above his head like a beast would hold a boulder above its head. "I'm Naruto! Hear me roar! Believe it!" The man that watched Naruto lifting a big jeep over his head with little to no effort put in fainted from shock.

A little girl who had blond curly hair, crystal blue colored eyes, and freckles all over her face. She was wearing a pink coat, matching trousers and same colored sandals upon her feet. "Mommy, mommy, that wolf-boy's lifting a car over his head," She pointed at Naruto, having noticed his now visible fangs.

The tall lady next to her just waved her off, not believing what she said. "Okay sweetie, whatever you say." She exclaimed idly, as she carried on glancing at a pretty dress she wanted to buy for herself.

Naruto's eyes caught sight of a bouncy ass walking down the road with a thick hand in her grasp. "So, what are you going to buy me honey bear," she spoke to the man next to her. She was tall in comparison to Naruto's height, had long sulky black hair falling to her lower back and onyx colored eyes. She dressed kind of slutty. She had a green bra shirt, a short blue skirt and blue sandal-high heels on her feet.

The man next to her was a tall man with huge broad shoulders. He had brown hair with short bangs falling between his eyes, and jade green eyes. He was wearing a white tank top, showing off his huge chest, black cargo pants and blue sneakers on his feet. "You'll get nothing from me bitch. What do you think I'm made off, money? And don't pick the obvious one."

The woman rubbed the man's arm playfully, "But baby-"she was cut off when a loud thumping loud sound echoed throughout the air. "What was that?" she asked as she and the man turned around and only saw a damaged Jeep.

"My car!" The man screamed. "Who'd this-" His sentence ended mid-way when a girly squeal filled the air.

"Ahhh!" The woman squealed as she held her backside. "You spanked me!" she said to the blond-boy wearing the black and blue Gi standing behind her.

Naruto cheered. "Yeah, I did! Believe it! I would do it again too, bitch. Believe it!" The woman looked mortified while the man's face turned red with explosive anger welling up inside of him. "There are so many hot girls that I can spank. I love it. Believe it! I'm going to spank every girl's asses, believe it!"

The woman was now really appalled while the man's rage boiled over and he threateningly stepped towards Naruto with his hand balled up into a fist, "How dare you touch my girlfriend!" He furiously shouted, gaining more speculators then he asked for.

Naruto held up his index finger to the man, confusing him and his girlfriend until his placed his finger into his ear and dumbly replied, "You say something bro?"

**Snap!**

The man exploded with angry flames emitting around his body. _This cocky b__rat! _He doesn't know who he was messing with. The man would teach him not to mess with him or his girlfriend ever again. Both fists were clenched to the point one could hear the sound of his skin breaking as his body moved forward on its own accord to kill the cocky blond-wolf freak boy.

But unfortunately for him, a small hand was placed onto his huge hand in comparison, before he found his hand twisted in a sickening way. He collapsed to one knee and let out a cackle scream, "Aaaaaaaaaaaah!" He desperately tried to pry Naruto's hand off of his own hand to no avail.

The woman's eyes widened. "Baby? What are you doing? He's just a kid. Don't let him do this to you." She pleaded but it fell on deaf ears because her man was sent flying away because a sharp kick was buried into his face. "…" The woman fell silent as she stared at her man lying in a pool of his own blood. "W-What are you?" She asked the blond-boy who had his leg extended upwards.

Naruto placed his leg down with a hard thud, making everyone around him all jump. They'd expected him to attack. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! And I'm going to be the greatest shinigami the world has ever seen! Believe it!" And with that declared Naruto vanished as if he wasn't even there, leaving a bunch of bewildered civilians behind.

"He's strong!" The little girl spoke in awe.

Naruto reappeared half way down the road on top of a moving van. "I probably shouldn't have done that." He spoke idly to himself. "But then again that bitch had it coming. Believe it!"

Who did that guy think he was anyway? If Naruto wanted to spank his girlfriend's ass, then by all means he could (can). A weakling like him who tried to show his power by showing off his steroid muscles was always going to get his ass kicked. Hell, Naruto would bet that Ryosuke-teme and Strawberry could kick the shit out of him.

"Which reminds me, I haven't seen Strawberry for some time? Or Rukia, I hope Rukia okay." Naruto said as he lay down and spread his arms and legs out on the van. In reality the last time he saw Ichigo and Rukia was a few hours ago. "I may've well get a good nap while I'm up here."

It was free after all. As long as he stayed low and quiet, the dumb driver would never know he was up there.

As Naruto shut his eyes, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was about to go down which involved Rukia's safety.

* * *

**Elsewhere – Karin and Yuzu**

The Kurosaki twins continued walking to where Karin had last sensed Naruto's presence. But suddenly Karin stopped, bringing Yuzu to a halt too.

"What is it Karin-chan? Did you sense Naruto-kun somewhere?" Yuzu wondered, looking over at her twin questioningly.

Karin clenched her fists and narrowed her eyes. "That idiot." She muttered and Yuzu gave her a curious look. "He has caused trouble again, his spirit energy just spiked."

Yuzu shook her head. "Ah Naruto-kun," She heaved a sigh. "We better find him before he gets into another fight." Because if Naruto kept getting into fights then surely he would end up in jail and Yuzu and Karin wouldn't want to see Naruto-kun in jail.

Karin hummed. "I agree with you there." She was about to head off until that same energy signature from the time she was bedridden hit her senses as hard as it could, forcing her to hold her head in pain. "Ow!"

"Karin-chan!" Yuzu exclaimed worriedly as she placed a hand on her twin sister's shoulder. "Are you okay? What happened to you? Did you sense something that was too much for your senses to handle?" she questioned her sister worriedly.

Karin almost fell onto one knee but Yuzu kept her up straight, "Thanks Yuzu-chan. And yeah, it's that same energy signature that kept me bedridden for the whole of my day-off." Which of course sucked for Karin, she worked hard and when she finally got a day-off she had to stay in bed because she wasn't used to her new sensing ability.

Yuzu gestured to where Karin last sensed Naruto's presence to be at. "I think we should go find Naruto-kun now."

Karin nodded her head. "Yeah." She closed her eyes for a brief moment once again before she reopened them. "He seems to have changed direction, he's now heading this way. " She pointed in the direction she sensed Naruto in.

Yuzu nodded intently, "Okay, let's go where Naruto-kun is." Karin didn't waste a second to reply to her twin sister and instead took off in the direction she had sensed Naruto in. And Yuzu trailed by her side.

'Naruto… what are you up to?' Karin thought to herself, sensing Naruto edging closer to the older school.

* * *

**Karakura High School – With Ichigo, Rukia and the Rest**

The bell echoed throughout the air, and the older kids of Karakura Town all jolted out with their tails between their legs so they could get home and forget about school for another day.

"Bye bye, Reiko. Bye, bye Noemi. Bye, bye Ryo. See you all tomorrow." Orihime waved to her friends in a sing-song cheery tone of voice, giving them all a big hug, which they half-heartedly returned before Orihime skipped away to Tatsuki.

Ryo, deadpanned. "You'd think it's like we aren't going to see her again." The other girls nodded in agreement with her.

Noemi chimed in, "Well at least we're away from her now. I don't think I could take another minute of 'Kagoshima-kun'." Seriously though, did the girl not know when to shut up about Ryosuke? It seemed to her friends that she didn't! She was like a complete motor-mouth when it came to Ryosuke!

Reiko gestured for the girls to walk off with her and they obliged. "I think it's kind of sweet that Inoue-chan has a crush on a boy." Even if said boy did attend Karakura Middle School and had a bad attitude to match. Everyone needed love. "At least Chizuru isn't bothering her anymore," Some unknown reason.

Ryo's face remained undisturbed. "I suppose she has begun to respect people's boundaries. That or she's scare of the boy," Reiko and Noemi had to share a laugh at that. The boy seemed more like a wannabe gangsta and a clown to them. "Ah." With a breath of fresh air the girls ventured home.

Orihime ran over to Ichigo, Rukia, Tatsuki and Chad. "Hey guys, what're you all up to now?" She inquired in her usual exuberance fashion.

Ichigo looked upon the cheery orange burnt haired girl with a scowl upon his features, "Ah, Inoue-chan. Well I'm going home. I don't know about this lot though." Typical Kurosaki Ichigo, straight home after school without so much of a goodbye.

It made Orihime sad to think how much of a loner Ichigo was. Same could be said for Ryosuke too. Both lads don't really have any 'real friends' so to be speak, that she could recall them hanging out with.

Rukia's face was impassive, "And I'll be around I suppose." Meaning she'd be at Ichigo's house sleeping in his closet like she always does. Not that Orihime and any of them (except Ichigo) needs to know that. A slight growling sound made Rukia turn her head to the side with a look of sharpness in her eyes.

"What's wrong Rukia-san?" Tatsuki asked, glancing around to what Rukia was looking at, but only saw a glimpse of a black and white ghost. Probably some nerd in a Halloween costume, "I don't see anything."

Rukia calmed down slightly. "Oh, it's nothing Arisawa-chan." She brushed off what she thought she'd saw.

"We'll all agree to disagree then." Ichigo chipped in with a nonchalant expression on his face. And Rukia, Tatsuki, Chad and Orihime nodded in agreement with the orange haired man.

On a huge story-high building, the hollow Shrieker watched with an evil glint in his eye. "Ooooh, she's mine now." Dips of saliva were pouring from his mouth at the prospect of taking Rukia. Slowly but surely snakes began spouting from his arms and legs. "I will take her now. And then Susumu Ogre will bow before the overwhelming power of Goro-san!" Shrieker was prepared to take Rukia at any given moment. A swift jump was all it would take to nab her up and run back to Goro.

The slightest of taps on Shrieker's shoulder alerted him of someone's presence. "Yes Goro-san I know already! I'm going to get her now!" He assumed it to be Goro. And as such prepared to leap at Rukia, there was no need to get on the powerful Quincy bad side, "What?" The hand that rested on his shoulder suddenly tightened immensely, keeping him from going anywhere.

"Goro-san-" He snapped his head around to look at the powerhouse Quincy. Wondering why in the hell would he want him to stay back for when Rukia right there for the taking. "Please- AH! YOU'RE NOT GORO-SAN!"

NO! Standing behind him was a short man with long dark purple hair tied back in a pony hair. The back end of his pony tail stood up on end as if it were defying gravity. His eyes were all purple with no visible pupils and his skin was dark to match his devilish appearance. He wore a tattered black karate gi with purple outlines and a dark purple sash tied around his waist. On his back rested an enormous battle axe that was fit for a giant than a short man like him.

Shrieker may've been a hollow but he was sweating bullets at this man before him who was staring at him with an emotionless look on his face. "W-who a-are y-you." He stammered and the man said nothing. Shrieker gulped as he caught sight of a gold necklace tied around the man's neck. It had a picture of a young girl with raven hair and dark eyes.

The sudden realization sunk into Shrieker, "No…" He backed away as much as he could until he hit the edge of the building. "Y-You're S-Susumu O-Ogre. H-How'd y-you e-escape t-the D-Demon-W-World?"

"**None of your business," **He spoke in a deep monstrous voice that had Shrieker gasping for air. "You're trying to take my sister. I cannot allow that. You must die."

It was Susumu Ogre. No! How could he be so careless? This man would kill him, surely! He was dead! There was no two ways about it! He would've begged for mercy but looking into Ogre's deadly cold eyes told him that begging for his already dead life would've been futile. So instead he turned around and roared to the top of his lungs, "HELP M-" He was silenced by a firm dark hand that covered his face.

His shout alerted Rukia, Ichigo, Tatsuki and Orihime. "What the hell was that?" Rukia was the first one to ask. She turned her head to the side and her eyes widened seeing Shrieker's lifeless body floating into the air on its own accord.

Tatsuki noticed it too. "What the hell is that?" Ichigo's eyes widened as soon as she finished her sentence. _Tatsuki had spiritual awareness too__!_ How could that be possible? He would have to ask Rukia or Naruto about it later.

"What's that?" Orihime asked a bit nervously as a huge black and red door appeared from literally out of nowhere. It had a huge Skeleton-face on the front of it as well as a rope that was used to open it just a bit. "It looks like a huge closet."

Rukia's eyes widened. 'What the hell? How can they see the gates of the Demon-World?' It was shocking to say the least. This world had some interesting people Rukia would've to give it that. She glanced at Ichigo to find the Strawberry-man glancing right back at her with his eyes narrowed. Rukia nodded at him, telling him through her look that they'd discuss the matter later. And Ichigo nodded, satisfied with that answer.

The gate soon disappeared along with the creature that floated in front of it. But not before allowing Ichigo to get a glimpse of power far beyond his imagination, and the orange haired man only gaped at it. 'What the hell was that?'

0_0… Silent. Everyone was silent with their mouths slightly open but nothing but air coming out. That was madness! There was no way a door could appear from out of nowhere. Especially one that looked like the devil wanted to walk out of it.

Tatsuki snapped her head to shake off her stupor, "Okay, did you guys see that too or I am going crazy or something?" She asked hopefully. That was insane! Too insane! Maybe she would've to go to a mental house to get her head checked up? On second thought, fuck that.

Orihime clapped her hands energetically together, "Maybe it was a magic trick."

Ichigo looked at Orihime with a deadpan look on his face. "I don't think any magicians could pull something like that off Inoue-chan." Orihime giggled softly and Ichigo palmed his face.

Tatsuki decided to poke her finger at Ichigo. "And what do you think it could be, Ichigo-kun?" She inquired slyly.

Ichigo shrugged. "I don't care, Arisawa-chan," He exclaimed before coolly shoving his hands into his pockets.

Tatsuki would've frowned at that but something else gave her a questionable look instead.

"It's Kagoshima-kun!" Orihime had caught sight of a supposedly sleeping Ryosuke, because the boy was getting off of the ground looking drowsy while rubbing his eyes, "Hi Kagoshima-kun!" Orihime dashed over to where Ryosuke was.

Ryosuke scratched the back of his head with a confused expression on his face, "How'd I get here?" He also held a little red teddy bear dressed in a black ninja costume. When he sensed the approach of a familiar presence his face returned to its usual scowl one, "It's only you Orihime".

Orihime's smile brightened at him, "I didn't know you would be here Kagoshima-kun. When'd you get here? I'm happy you are though."

Ryosuke's eyebrow rose on its own accord, "I don't know. I could've sworn I was on a car taking a nap." And whoever was driving the car got fed up with Ryosuke being on top of his/her car and dragged him off, leaving the brown haired boy by the front of Karakura High School.

Ichigo's, Rukia's, Chad's, and Tatsuki's eyebrow twitched before they all simultaneously fell on top of their heads at Ryosuke's stupidity. And to make matters worse the boy in question tilted his head to the side in a nonchalant manner before saying, "I didn't do anything."

Ichigo had a bone to pick with Ryosuke, "Ryosuke you bastard, who do you think you are telling Tatsuki you think I am not worth your time. Bastard!" He tried to march over to him so he could batter Ryosuke but Rukia held back him. "Let me go!"

"My comment still stands." Ryosuke responded, impassively.

Ichigo would've exploded if not for the sound of a familiar voice that had got his attention. "Onii-chan!" It was Yuzu's voice. But what was she doing here?

Turning his head to the side Ichigo was greeted by the sight of his two sisters strolling towards them. "Karin, Yuzu. What are you two doing here? Shouldn't you be home by now?"

"We're looking for Naruto-kun. He skipped class today and now he's avoiding Lady Tomoyo-sama." Yuzu stated upon making it within touching distance to Ichigo and the others.

Tatsuki rolled her eyes. "He wouldn't be the only one." She sent a glare at Ryosuke, who in return casually shrugged his shoulders. "Hey Karin," She waved at Karin.

Karin merely nodded at her, "Hey Tatsuki-chan." Tatsuki's family had been good friends with her family even before her mother died.

It still begged the question though. "How'd trailing Naruto lead you here?" Ichigo asked. He had forgotten about her 'problem' during their day-off from school, and just passed it off as a cold.

Karin's face was impassive, "I just sensed his presence near here."

Sensed his presence? Well that didn't sound right to anyone ears. And Chad decided to voice everyone's thoughts for once. "How'd you do that? Sounds kind of iffy," At least he was being honest.

She would've tried to elaborate but Ryosuke caught wind of the distinctive powerful energy signature of one wolf boy riding on the roof of a blue van. "It's Uzumaki." Everyone (except Karin) raised their eyebrows at Ryosuke and he leaped on top of the roof. "…Ugh" Naruto was fast asleep so Ryosuke picked him up and done a backflip over to Karin and Yuzu before dropping the sleeping Naruto by their feet. He then leaped back to where Orihime was standing.

Chad's eyes widened. 'It did that so fast it was almost inhuman.'

Yuzu bent down and tap Naruto gently on his face. "Wake up Naruto-kun." She softly said and Naruto stirred before sitting up.

"Oh hey Yuzu-chan, Karin-chan," He happily said before glancing at a scowling Ichigo, a nonchalant Rukia, a giant boy he had never seen before, a tomboy, and a girl with big boobs standing next to Ryosuke. Okay, since when'd Ryosuke get such a hot girl?! Not that it matters. "How'd I get here?" He wondered and Ichigo palmed his face.

Karin jabbed a finger into Naruto's chest, eliciting a "yelp" out of the blond that made Ichigo smirk. "Never you mind that Naruto. Why'd you skip class for? Not to mention you're not answering your calls when your grandma tries to call you." She crossed her arms over her chest.

Damn. He was caught out. He would have to think of an expert way to get out of this one. "I…" He was drawing a blank. "Ma-

"And don't say 'marry me Karin and Yuzu' like you always do when you're in trouble." Karin cut him off sharply, already knowing what he would say before he even had the chance to finish his sentence.

Damn! Was he really that predictable? No! He was unpredictable! In fact he was so unpredictable he was crazy unpredictable! "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the most unpredictable, hyperactive, knucklehead shi-" As Naruto pointed his thumb at himself and was about to declare himself as a shinigami, Ichigo immediately covered his mouth, stopping him from blurting out the next line.

Before Karin and Yuzu could ask Ichigo why he covered Naruto's mouth, Ichigo decided to take his revenge on Naruto. Turning him around swiftly, Ichigo snapped Naruto's head to the side with a fierce punch, and then he knocked the wind out of Naruto with a knee to the stomach. "You little loud mouth bastard!" It felt good to beat on Naruto.

"Ichigo!" Rukia and Tatsuki shouted in unison at Ichigo while Karin and Yuzu kneeled down to place their hands on his shoulders, "Why'd you do that for?" Tatsuki wondered.

Ichigo looked down at a scowling Naruto wiping his mouth with his hand and wondered why he hadn't attacked him back yet, "Stupid kid." Ichigo grumbled under his breath.

Naruto, having already exhausted his strength and stamina by using his Raijin mode, could only narrow his eyes at Ichigo. "Teme"

Orihime remained oblivious to that mini confrontation between Ichigo and Naruto, and instead tugged on Ryosuke's arm, gaining his attention. "Do you want to go to my apartment and have dinner with me?" She asked somewhat shyly as her cheeks turned pink.

Ryosuke might've said yes if not for the fact that Karin's head began aching once again.

"Ow!" Karin held her head and leaned against Naruto for support.

"Karin-chan, what's wrong? Is it that jerk again?" Naruto asked.

"It's him!" Karin shouted, gripping Naruto tighter as the energy increased.

"What the hell's happening to you!?" Ichigo demanded as he moved closer to Karin along with everyone else.

Rukia was on the edge as Karin started sweating bullets. "This can't be good." Rukia murmured.

"Karin-chan, who's doing this to you, is he close?" Yuzu asked.

Karin found it hard to respond with the deadly words of the man swirling around in her head like a washing machine out of control. "_I'll kill them all. Women, children, babies, cats and dogs, I'll kill the__m__ all! I'll kill every last disgusting creature that walks the face__ of the earth and heaven itself. _

Karin screamed from the terrifying voice that was in her head, making Naruto hold onto her. "A v-voice!" she stammered, tears forming up in her eyes. "Filled with hate, it's saying how it's going to wipe every single last person/creature off of the earth and heaven entirely."

What? Was that even possible? Things were getting even crazier, so crazy Tatsuki, Chad and Orihime were frozen in shock and fear at what Karin was telling them.

Ichigo clenched his fists. "Karin, can you sense this bastard out? Can you?" He asked his sister eagerly. Whoever the bastard was, he would make the bastard/bitch pay for even daring to hurt his little sister.

Karin nodded stiffly as she pushed herself away from Naruto just a bit, "I do." Yuzu gulped and Ichigo narrowed his eyes and began frantically searching the endless amount of passing civilians walking idly by, minding their own business. "He's tall." Karin started in a whisper and everyone, except for Yuzu and Naruto who were both comforting Karin, nodded and kept their eyes peeled for the person responsible.

Time was slowing down as many more civilians walked passed; a few getting blacked out as they didn't match the description Karin had given them. "He has brown hair." Karin choked out and more civilians were blacked out of the sights of Ichigo, Rukia, Tatsuki, Chad, Orihime and Ryosuke. "He's wearing glasses and a long black trench coat."

At that point Ryosuke's eyes widened as painful words flashed through his head. "_Foolish boy, you do not deserve the power of the Quincy! You're weak just like your foolish grandpa, my father." _Ryosuke ended up gritting his teeth in anger and rage as the last person he wanted to see walked into his line of sight.

"There he is!" Karin exclaimed.

Ryosuke froze. His heart told him to attack and to crush the man relentlessly for what he had put him through as a baby growing up into the powerful boy that he is today. However, his mind told him something else entirely. The man allowed Ryosuke to feel a glimpse of his power, and it made Ryosuke's legs turn into jelly. His breathing became so heavy; it was like he had just saw his worst nightmare right before his eyes. His skin paled and the sweat bullets were rapidly pouring down his face like an endless waterfall.

It shocked Tatsuki and Orihime greatly to see Kagoshima Ryosuke scared out of his mind. The boy always looked so confident even when guns were pointed at his face. But yet, one man that was casually walking along the pavement had Ryosuke fearing for his life.

"Fath-" Ryosuke tried to call out to Goro, but Goro only smirked menacingly at him and simply flicked his thumb against his index finger, sending an object of some sort flying straight into Ryosuke's head. Blood sprawled out of Ryosuke's open forehead as he fell lifelessly to the floor, as if he was shot by a speeding bullet. Everyone could only watch on in horror as a bleeding Ryosuke fell limb to the floor.

A horrified Orihime screamed and kneeled down to Ryosuke. "Ryosuke-kun!" She whimpered loudly as she wrapped both arms around his neck. "What happened to him!" she cried as she stared emotionally into the wound Goro gave Ryosuke.

"Damn it!" Ichigo and Naruto swore as Ichigo ran over to Ryosuke. "I think he's been shot." He guessed and Orihime gasped.

Orihime rested her head against Ryosuke's chest and let her tears cover his shirt, "No Ryosuke-kun! I can't lose you, I can't lose you." She cried. She hadn't realized how lonely she actually was until Ryosuke started keeping her company.

A hand rested on Orihime's shoulder, "He'll be fine Inoue-chan." Tatsuki tried to assure her, truth be told she was just as worried as Orihime was. Over the weeks she had sparred with the rude teenage-boy she had come to think of him as an extremely powerful, but annoying as hell, little brother. So it also pained her to see Ryosuke in such a state.

Yuzu had gripped onto Naruto as tight as she could. "Naruto-kun, what's going to happen?" She reluctantly asked.

Naruto pounded the ground before looking directly into Goro's eyes, to find the man giving him a sadistic smile. 'What's that bastard up to, huh?'

'Is that anyway for my introduction Uzumaki Naruto,' Goro thought calmly to himself. And as Tatsuki pulled 'the bullet' Goro had fired into Ryosuke's head, they realized Goro had shot no more than a mere soft piece of a rubber into Ryosuke's forehead as if it were a sharp knife.

Things just got dangerous.

* * *

**Sensui.**

**And I'm done. My fingers hurt now. I'm off, peace!**


	14. The Truth Begins to Unravel

**Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King, Naruto and Bleach**

**This story won't stop bugging me to finish it. **

* * *

**Chapter 14**

**The Truth Begins to Unravel **

Surprisingly the man that'd mercilessly attacked Ryosuke never made another move, as if he were waiting for Naruto, Ichigo, or anyone of them to retaliate before he attacked them again.

They did not.

Naruto couldn't attack because all of his spiritual pressure was drained from using his Raijin mode. Ichigo wanted to lung at the man for what he'd done to Ryosuke, claiming that Ryosuke was their friend! Oddly enough! That made Naruto feel… weird. He'd never really thought of Ryosuke as a friend before. Of course when he stated that to Ichigo he received another face-bashing punch courtesy of the orange haired boy.

Ichigo maybe a miserable bastard, but one could not doubt his loyalty to his friends, or at the very least comrades.

However fighting amongst themselves was immediately put on hold hearing Orihime's tears of sadness. They knew they'd to get Ryosuke to the hospital first and then figure out a way how they'd go about dealing with the guy that'd did that to the brown haired boy.

Ichigo had carried Ryosuke on his shoulder as they all rushed to the hospital, not even so much of sparing Naruto a glance over his shoulder, even when they rushed into the hospital and were immediately taken into the emergency room, seeing as Ryosuke was in a serious condition. Ichigo couldn't understand why Naruto would be so cold towards his childhood friend like that, it freakily sickened him.

But what really astounded Ichigo was when his sisters, Yuzu and Karin, stood by Naruto and told their orange haired brother that Naruto really does care for Ryosuke, as his best friend. He just had trouble getting in touch with his 'feelings'. And that Ichigo mustn't be too hard on him.

Ichigo slightly agreed with them; however he did feel good to be able to punch Naruto down for once, especially after the blond had done that to him, twice. First time was when Ichigo and Ryosuke were fighting Bobomaru and were completely outclassed by the Adjuchas-class hollow, and surely would've been absorbed into the hollow's being if Naruto hadn't shown up and saved them.

The blond only made Ichigo exasperated when he told him he'd both of his sisters as his girlfriends. But to Ichigo it sounded like Naruto had said, 'I own Yuzu-chan and Karin-chan. Believe it.' That in return made Ichigo leash out at Naruto who casually side stepped his attack, allowing Ichigo to fall onto the ground with a thud.

Then there was the time Ichigo had that dream about Karin and Yuzu becoming Mrs Uzumaki. To stop that dream from becoming a reality Ichigo marched over to Naruto's house and demanded that the blond stay the hell away from his sisters, or else!

It didn't end too well for Ichigo.

But that was beside the point.

Ichigo, Chad, Rukia, Karin, Yuzu, and Naruto might've stayed at the hospital longer, but it was clear Orihime wanted to be alone with Ryosuke. So they respected her choice and chose to leave Orihime with Ryosuke. Of course Tatsuki stayed in the waiting room, waiting patiently on Orihime before she could leave. It was getting late, and there was no way the Karate-girl was going to leave her best friend to stroll home in the night by herself. That wouldn't be safe.

Bidding Tatsuki and Orihime a farewell, Ichigo, Rukia, Chad, Karin, Yuzu, and Naruto prepared to leave the hospital. Before Naruto left however, he stared intently at the moping orange burnt haired girl next to Ryosuke's side, and his long-time rival/friend. Naruto never realized how much Orihime cared for Ryosuke. She cared for Ryosuke as much as Ururu did herself.

It was kind of funny in a way to Naruto. He'd always got the feeling that Ryosuke was jealous of him having two hot twins to himself, now inexplicably the brown haired boy found himself with two girls. How life could be so fair. At least to Naruto! He couldn't fault Ryosuke. If any man had the chance to be with two girls he was going to take it, no two ways about it. How Ryosuke would go about introducing Orihime and Ururu would be entirely up to him.

They both seem like nice girls. So it shouldn't be too hard for Ryosuke to convince them to be with him at the same time.

Karin and Yuzu caught sight of Naruto staring at Orihime holding Ryosuke's hand, and understood perfectly well. He was surprised to see how much Orihime cared for Ryosuke, like how they adored him. So with a tug of his shirt, Yuzu and Karin snapped Naruto out of his stupor before Naruto smiled happily at them. He held their hands, eliciting both Yuzu and Karin to blush furiously before they all followed the rest out of the hospital.

* * *

**Afternoon – with Naruto, Karin, Yuzu, Ichigo, Rukia, and Chad**

The sun had started to set, leaving the sky a glowing orange. As Naruto, holding one of each of Yuzu and Karin's hands, Rukia, Chad, and Ichigo, with his hands shoved into his pockets, walked down the road, Ichigo couldn't shake off his frustration and decided to voice it so everyone knew.

"I can't take this shit anymore!" Ichigo raged.

"Ichigo, I know you're upset about what happened to Ryosuke, but getting angry won't make him feel any better." Rukia stated with an air of wisdom about her. "Nor will it help you avenge his loss."

Ichigo's temper still wouldn't die down as he sent a hatful glare the blonde's way, which he returned with a cold stare of his own. "It's not that which has me pissed off right now." Confusion was written all over Rukia's face until Naruto found himself being lifted off of the ground by the taller boy. "Ryosuke's meant to be your friend goddamn it! Show a little more emotion why don't ya!"

Naruto refused to respond. He just stared back into the enraged orange haired boy's eyes with an emotionless look on his features. Truth be told, Naruto didn't know how to respond to Ryosuke getting attacked. They've always had a competitive rivalry, and not much else. And he lacked the energy to fight back against Ichigo. All Naruto could do was allow Ichigo to take out his frustration on him now, and get him back later.

"Onii-chan, stop it!" Yuzu shouted as she grabbed Ichigo's hand and tried to pry it off of Naruto's collar, "Naruto-kun doesn't know how to respond to Ryosuke-san getting hurt. They've never really had a bonding experience."

That made good sense to Naruto. Unless one considered the time Naruto and Ryosuke both spent learning how to become a shinigami in Shattered Shaft. That sort of made a platform for their friendship to grow a little. Considering the fact they could've died. But then again, after Naruto had defeated Bobomaru their rivalry only grew due to Ryosuke's jealously at seeing Naruto defeat the enemy that'd given him so much trouble, effortlessly.

Karin placed her hand on Naruto's shirt, and tried to pull it away from Ichigo's steel grip. "Yuzu-chan's right, Ichi-nii; beating up Naruto won't make him understand what you're trying to make out for him to understand, you know what I mean." She explained in a slight deadpan tone.

Ichigo grunted as he tightened his grip on Naruto's shirt, looking at him through his narrowed eyes, Ichigo could see not an ounce of fear in Naruto's eyes despite being held up by the much taller boy. Ichigo tightened his free hand into a fist, and stretched his arm behind his shoulder, making everyone widen their eyes.

"Onii-chan/Ichi-nii/Ichigo!" Yuzu, Karin, Rukia, and Chad all called simultaneously, hoping to persuade Ichigo not to do what he was thinking. They saw hesitation for a split second before Ichigo let his fist fly towards Naruto's face!

"What?" Ichigo wondered. He had stopped his fist just before it could hit Naruto directly in his face. The blond didn't flinch, nor did he widen his eyes, instead he did the exact opposite. Naruto narrowed his eyes and remained unmoved even when a fist was being launched at his face. "Hrugh… damn it." Ichigo cursed as Chad managed to pry his hand off of Naruto's collar, allowing Naruto to land on his feet.

"Are you okay Naruto-kun?" Yuzu asked the blond through her puppy dog eyes, and Naruto only nodded in response. "Ah, that's good." She breathed a sigh of relief before sending a glare at Ichigo, which made him take an involuntary step back. "I expected more from you onii-chan." She said with a disappointed look on her pretty face.

Ichigo was shocked by his twin sister's words. "Yuzu…" He whispered but Yuzu huffed and turned away from Ichigo before grabbing hold of Naruto's hand again. "Karin?" Ichigo asked hopefully.

"Ichi-nii…" Karin commented with a sigh afterwards before taking hold of Naruto's other hand. "Naruto's a special person to us, Ichi-nii. You just have to accept that."

Ichigo stood blinking as he watched his twin sisters leave with Naruto in between them holding their hands. Was Naruto really that special to them? Where had he been? Ichigo never realized how much his sisters deeply cared for Naruto, he had assumed Yuzu had a fan girl crush on some boy over the years she'd told him about Naruto and he just wouldn't pay attention.

"Was I wrong about him?" Ichigo questioned himself, a look of bewilderment evident on his face as he could no longer see either his twin sisters or Naruto in the distance. "Hrughh," Ichigo sighed heavily as he scratched the back of his head. A small hand made him turned his head down to look at the source.

"Ichigo," Rukia started, feeling slightly awkward. "I'm not much for the whole 'love' thing between you humans. But even I can see how much your sisters deeply admire Naruto-san. You'll just have to live with that, otherwise you could end up driving your sisters further away from you." She understood Ichigo's situation. He was just being the overprotective big brother, just like her own dear nii-sama, (respected older brother), Kuchiki Byakuya.

A firm tan-skinned hand sat itself on Ichigo's shoulder, "Rukia-san's right, Ichigo. You know I've always got your back pal, but even I must say you have to let your sisters be with the Naruto-boy." Chad explained in his monotone voice. He followed up quickly, "Of course if the Naruto-boy tries anything against you, I won't hesitate to jump in and fight him with you."

Rukia could feel a bead of sweat falling off of the back of her head. 'He has gravely underestimated the power of Naruto-san.' Even for a human-boy Naruto (is) was incredibly powerful. Rukia knew this just from the time she'd watched Naruto purify Bobomaru, an Adjuchas-class hollow, within a spilt second like he was nothing. The blond-boy was as strong if not stronger than Captain-Zaraki and her nii-sama Byakuya.

Would it be wrong of Rukia if she came clean to Naruto and revealed that she'd committed a crime by giving her powers away to Ichigo and that they'd eventually be sending a High A-class Captain, and a high or low B-class lieutenant to take her back to the Soul Society to give her the proper eradication she deserved?

Maybe Naruto could protect her from them. No! What was she thinking? That'd be selfish to put a kid like Naruto in the firing line just to see that she lives. As a Kuchiki, Rukia must've the pride to see through her own punishment. Even if that meant she'd be obliterated in the process.

Ichigo gave Chad a good pat on the shoulder, "Thanks Chado, I've always got your back too man." They've been good friends, or least close comrades for time. Ever since Chad saved Ichigo from a beating and Ichigo quickly returned the favour when the same thugs came back for Chad.

Chad nodded as he held his school bag over his shoulder, "Anyway Ichigo, I've got to get home and cook my dinner now. See you tomorrow at school."

Ichigo's eyes suddenly became dejected. "Actually Chad… tomorrow's a special day for my family. I won't be coming to school tomorrow." Rukia's eyes widened at the melancholy evident in the voice and eyes of Kurosaki Ichigo.

Chad decided not to question Ichigo about it, because he knew his friend/comrade could be very touchy and sensitive about his past, some unknown reason. So Chad shoved his hand into pocket and walked off down the road. And when two teenage boys tried to mug Chad, the big man calmly pushed their heads to the side and carried on walking home, leaving Ichigo and Rukia sweat-dropping at how easy he was able to defeat those boys.

When Chad could no longer be seen, Ichigo inquired on a matter that was bugging him ever since lifting Naruto off of the ground. "Rukia," He gained Rukia's undivided attention with his calm but serious voice. "When I dragged Naruto off of the ground, I noticed something… weird."

Rukia raised an eyebrow, "And what would that be?" she asked rhetorically as there didn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary, barring the fact that Naruto didn't appear to be fazed by Ichigo's attempted punch.

Ichigo turned his head to her and shot her a glare, as if saying it was obvious. "You must've seen it for yourself!" He raged loudly, confusing Rukia more. He needed to elaborate. "Can't you see it? Can't you see those teeth he has?!"

Rukia's eyes widened in realization, "I see now." She could remember seeing Naruto smile at Karin and Yuzu not too long ago. It showed a perfect glimpse of sharp teeth fit for a wolf. "Those are fangs Naruto-san has. Not teeth!"

Ichigo's scowling face turned considerably dark, "Are you trying to say my sisters are in love with some freakish demon-boy?!" It would explain the fangs. But it also meant Ichigo couldn't allow Yuzu and Karin to be around Naruto any longer, in fear Naruto would harm them like the demon he may be, "Should I purify him?!"

Rukia held up a hand to halt Ichigo's progress, "Hang on Ichigo, and don't get ahead of yourself. If Naruto is what I think he is then there's no way that you'll be able to beat him." Ichigo looked disconcerted so Rukia decided to elaborate for him. "I remember when I was in the shinigami academy." Her short but brief time before Byakuya adopted her, "I learned about the history of the most powerful hollows of all time!"

Ichigo had a look of curiosity on his face, "The most powerful of all hollows." He repeated.

Rukia nodded and continued on with her explanation. "Not much was explained about them in the academy. It seemed most shinigami would rather just forget about them. Although, I have a hunch that most Captains know about the Kami-class hollows because my own squad Captain hinted about them."

"And you think Naruto's a kami-class hollow?" Ichigo asked belligerently and Rukia gave a nonchalant nod. "That's impossible!" It couldn't be right. If so, then that meant Naruto had the power to rule the whole city! No! Forget about conquering the whole city, the boy had the resources to take over the entire planet! It was in the name. (God), 'Kami'-ranked, surely that wasn't just a phase. "I don't believe that shit!"

"Whatever Ichigo," Rukia responded impassively, "It doesn't really matter anyway, because the kami-class hollow that may be lying deep within Naruto won't awake until it's ready. And that's only if he's a kami-class hollow; it's nothing but mere speculation at this moment of time."

"Whatever," Ichigo exclaimed, nonchalantly. Now that was over with for the time being anyway, he had more important things to tend to. "Rukia…" He started in a whisper of a voice, startling Rukia. "Will it be alright if I take a day-off from being a substitute shinigami?"

Rukia couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Absolutely not!" she screamed belligerently. "You can't take a day-off no matter what! You're a substitute shinigami, it's your job-"

"Please Rukia." Ichigo pleaded with sadness evident in his usual manly voice. "I… I need a day-off. Tomorrow's a rather special day for me and my family."

Rukia's eyes widened. Ichigo looked so melancholy and empty. The usual full of confident swagger Ichigo was nonexistence at that moment. This was a different Ichigo, one that Rukia had never saw before. She didn't know why, but she'd to give him what he wanted. "Hmm." She found herself reluctantly humming in acceptance before she and Ichigo strolled off to Ichigo's home.

* * *

**Elsewhere - with Goro**

The powerful Quincy stood on a story-high tower watching Ichigo converse with Rukia with an almost regretful look on his features. "Ichigo…" he murmured before his cold demeanour, sadistic self-kicked in. "You'll be fighting the fight of your life soon enough. Tomorrow will be the day you'll start taking your role of a shinigami seriously. I will see to it that you'll become strong; strong enough to maybe even match the mightiest of all hollows… the kami-ranked hollows. I will force you Ichigo to unlock your Zanpakuto first form at the very least so those fools at the shop can teach you how to unlock your final form."

The sadistic battle-loving Quincy would force Ichigo to tap into his deepest potential and drag it out so the orange haired boy would be no burden to his friends. It would be no fun if one boy slowed down his allies and made his plans less fun then they'd be if he were strong.

Goro could almost picture his sweet vision coming forth before his satisfied eyes. The pleasure he would get seeing a Bankai Ichigo and a full-powered Raijin Naruto lying on the floor underneath his feet. He had already taken care of that weakling Ryosuke, but he would be there too. Otherwise they may find it hard to recruit the members they'd need to face him and his minions in mortal combat.

A swish sound of a Hirenkyaku alerted Goro of a newcomer presence. "That kid Uzumaki, or that idiot Ichigo never attacked you Goro-san." It was a bespectacled teenager of average height. He had straight, chin-length raven-colored hair framing both sides of his face, and was fair-skinned with blue eyes. And he was wearing the Karakura High School uniform.

Goro didn't need to spin around to tell who'd appeared behind him. He'd sensed him the moment the raven-haired boy appeared behind him. "Yes, I was pleasantly surprised as well, Uryuu-san."

Uryuu adjusted his glasses and glanced around the city. "I can't sense Shrieker-san anymore." Not that it mattered; Uryuu would've most likely eradicated Shrieker himself after he managed to take Rukia. "It's just as I thought ho-"

"I know, hollows are nothing more but mere weaklings." Goro cut him off with a sadistic smile on his face.

Uryuu decided to get straight down to business. "I do not think we need Ogre's power to eradicate the Soul Society and everyone in it for what they did to the Quincy!" He had his pride. And that pride couldn't bare it using a shinigami's power for anything. That concluded taking vengeance against the very same shinigami.

Besides, Ogre had spent how years trapped within the Demon-World, where he was most likely chained up to unbreakable steel bars. Surely his power would've somewhat weakened through that time trapped in the Demon-World.

"Yes, I agree Uryuu-san." Goro said with the utmost calmness, surprising Uryuu.

"Then why'd you have Shrieker try to kidnap Ogre's sister?" Uryuu questioned belligerently, only getting an evil chuckle for his troubles. "Wait… you just wanted to mess with your old auntie, right?"

Goro smirked. "Yes, you could say that." Uryuu scowled at him. "I also wanted to see how you'd react to the news that I'd be using a shinigami's power to help us receive totally eradication of the Soul Society and every shinigami in it."

"You're a twisted genius. You do know that right?"

"Ha, ha, ha, ha… I see. And I know. And I enjoy what I do." Goro responded, chuckling devilishly. Something suddenly caught Goro's senses. "It would appear the Soul Society's sending out the big guns. It must be the queen's doing."

Uryuu would've questioned Goro to elaborate if he hadn't caught sight of a floating Japanese style sliding door that inexplicably and spontaneously appeared from out of nowhere. It must've been at least a good 5 miles away from their location so they wouldn't have to worry about being jumped. It levitated 200 feet harmlessly from the ground.

Uryuu's eyes widened, "The Senkaimon." He breathed almost wordlessly out and Goro nodded. "I see the shinigami scum aren't messing about."

When the Senkaimon opened up, a little man with white spiky hair and turquoise eyes strolled out wearing a black shihakusho like the ones Naruto, Ichigo, and Ryosuke wore in their shinigami forms. Except he had a white haori over it with a green sash tied around his shoulders, held together by a round, star-like clip. The sash held his Zanpakutō's sheath in place on his back and was tied to it at either end.

He was followed by two taller shinigamis. The first one was a tall woman with a busty cleavage. She had long wavy orange/blond hair that fell to her lower back, blue eyes, full lips, and a beauty mark located under the right side of her mouth. She had a very curvaceous figure that most women would envy and most men would kill just to be with her. She dressed in the garb typical of Shinigami; though she let her robes hang loose for her ample bosom to be revealed. She wore a thin golden necklace tucked between her cleavage and a long pink scarf over her shoulders. In addition, she wore an armband on her uniform's sash signifying her rank as a lieutenant. And her Zanpakuto was stripped tightly onto her back like any old samurai would've done.

The last one was a bald man. He was a tall and lean-built man. His eyes each had a small red marking at the outer corner. He wore a standard shinigami uniform and his Zanpakuto was held on his shoulder.

Goro smirked, "Interesting…"

* * *

**Elsewhere – With Urahara and Yoruichi**

The sadistic look on Kisuke's face when Yoruichi returned to the Urahara shop in her base form holding her rear end could've sent shivers up even the most deadly of the Kami-ranked hollows. The blond-man leisurely say back in his chair and laughed manically seeing smoke radiating off of Yoruichi's ass.

She looked even more sexier like that.

At least Naruto didn't bite her.

Of course Yoruichi slammed her fist so hard into Kisuke's eye it left it all black and blue. But hey, it was worth it to hear that a twelve human-boy could slap her, the goddess of flash's ass and get away with it like he was allowed to do so because he was a beast of a lightning-boy.

Poor Yoruichi. She was as fast as sound could be. It was a shame that sound paled in comparison to the speed of lightning. She didn't hold a grudge against Naruto though. If the boy was a 100 year old man or more so than she would've been pissed, but because he was just a little overpowered immune boy she could let it slide.

She knew that Naruto never had feelings for her, not even close. He was still very much loyal to his own girls. But Yoruichi guessed that being an overpowered teenage delinquent boy could've the sort of 'he can do whatever he wants because he's a beast of a shinigami'. Which was sort of right seeing as Naruto had enough power to be able to withstand, or even defeat Head-Captain Yamamoto while powered up in his Raijin mode.

Good lord… If Naruto was ever to obtain a Bankai, master the 'flash-step', (not that he needs it with his steel mirror barrage), and fully gain complete control over his own power, he could reach the kami-ranked hollows and the spirit king's level.

Who knows? It was definitely a possibility. Naruto's potential was limitless.

Then again, so was Ichigo's. The orange haired boy had an enormous amount of spiritual pressure stored up inside of him. So much so that he subconsciously releases it whatever he's in his shinigami form. Which of course was trouble news to say the very least. He could end up giving the people around him supernatural powers like how Naruto gave Karin her sensing ability just by being around the Kurosaki girl in his base form!

The blond-boy's so powerful he should be able to defeat at least a fifth seat in his normal base form. That was assuming if he could channel just a bit of his spiritual pressure in his base form. Then it would be no problem. Ichigo would be able to do defeat a fifth seat in his base form when he eventually starts strengthening it.

That shit's no easy task.

A snickering Kisuke still could not get the image of Yoruichi's smoking ass out of his mind, "Hehe." He laughed from his beach seat in his store. "You got spank by a kid." And he was acting like a kid who'd just saw someone get the wedgie of his life.

Yoruichi, in cat form, looked up at the black-eyed Kisuke with an annoyed expression on her cat-face. "It's not funny. I swear Tomoyo-chan needs to teach that boy some manners. He practically ruined my trousers with that lightning slap he gave me." She exclaimed and the sadistic Kisuke only laughed more.

Jinta sat in the living room next to Ururu watching a show about how Mickey Mouse goes gangsta. "The boss can sure be evil some times." The red headed boy felt more humbled and mellowed out since the time Ryosuke had floored him with his energy. Not to mention as soon as Naruto busted out of Shattered Shaft him, Ururu, and Tessai found themselves pancaked to the floor even know they were nowhere near the blond before Naruto tied the headband around his forehead, lowering his spiritual pressure immensely.

Jinta started to understand that he wasn't the strongest in his age group, and that there were still way stronger kids then him. Naruto, and Ryosuke just to name a couple.

Ururu seemed a bit jittery as she kept fidgeting with her dress. "I'm getting a bad vibe." She said a bit sadly.

Jinta's head snapped up. "Is it about Ryosuke-niichan." Jinta looked up and admired Ryosuke. For the most part the brown haired boy was anything he desired to be. He had the arrogance of someone who thought they could take on the whole world. He was powerful in his own right, and could scare the shit out of most adults. The only thing he didn't like about Ryosuke was the fact he seemed stupid as fuck.

A teary-eyed Ururu nodded dimly, "I can barely make out his energy signature." It wasn't sad that she liked to make sure that Ryosuke was okay from time to time. He made sure she was safe when he passed through. It was only fair that she returned the favour. "I think he might be hurt."

"Damn it." Jinta cursed as he pounded his fist onto the side of the table. "Ryosuke-niichan… what happened to you?" he murmured to himself.

And at the same time, Kisuke and Yoruichi sensed the presence of three powerful spiritual pressures desperately trying to be suppressed. "Are you sensing what I am sensing?" Kisuke murmured to Yoruichi.

Yoruichi nodded slowly, "Yeah, by the looks of things it's a Captain, lieutenant, and another lieutenant. But why would the Soul Society feel the need to send them here, and now." Especially considering the fact it had only been a month since Rukia had arrived in the World of the Living. "You don't think-"

"Exactly," Kisuke cut her off. "I think this is Anna-sama's doing." Even know he hadn't seen her for years, just the mention of the powerful, fearsome woman's name sent shivers up Kisuke's spine. "She must want to test Naruto's and Ryosuke's skills." Yoh-sama and Anna-sama always did take a keen interest in the most promising of shinigami. Such as Ichigo, the boy-wonder, and if these human/shinigami half-breeds were up to the challenge then they could officially become special shinigami detectives under Yoh-sama himself.

"Do you think Ichigo-kun, Naruto, and Ryosuke-san are up to the challenge?" Yoruichi wondered, they'd only just become shinigamis themselves a little under a month ago. "I'd say Naruto's ready. But what about Ryosuke-san and Ichigo-kun, they haven't achieved their shikais yet!"

Kisuke let out a relax whistle. "Maybe this is what Yoh-sama and Anna-sama want." Kisuke ventured a guess. "If Ryosuke and Ichigo-san are thrown into a life and death matter they maybe able to unlock their shikais that way."

"It could work." Yoruichi exclaimed before she transformed into her human-form. "I'll phone Tomoyo-chan and warn her about the upcoming danger." She told Kisuke but got no response from Kisuke. "Kisuke?" she wondered as she looked over at a blooded up laughing Kisuke.

"Ha, ha," Kisuke laughed dazedly as blood sprawled from his nose caused by Yoruichi's nakedness.

* * *

**Forest – With the Three New Arrivals**

The white haired man landed onto the ground with his companions doing likewise. His expression told the world he took no-bullshit and that he wanted to get straight down to business. "Alright Lieutenant Matsumoto, and third seat Ikkaku of the 11th squad, we should make camp for the night and attack our targets first thing tomorrow morning." He spoke seriously to his lieutenant that goes by the name of Matsumoto Rangiku, and the third seat of Captain-Zaraki's squad, Madarame Ikkaku.

Rangiku cheerily wrapped her arm around her Captain's neck, "Awww, come on Toshiro-kun. I want to go shopping while we're here." She pleaded innocently, her big boobs trapping Toshiro's head.

A tick mark appeared on Toshiro's forehead, "That's Captain-Hitsugaya to you lieutenant Matsumoto!" He raged as he violently shrugged her arm off of his shoulder. "We cannot fail such an important mission given to us by Asakura-sama herself!" He usually preferred to Yoh as Kami-sama.

Ikkaku smirked. "Ah, that's fine by me. Honestly, what does Kami-sama see in these boys is beyond me. They'd be nothing to my Captain-Zaraki!"

Toshiro looked at Ikkaku through narrowed eyes, "Do not doubt Kami-sama's nor Asakura-sama's judgement. They've ruled over the Soul Society before we even existed. Don't be an incompetence fool."

"Yeah, yeah," Ikkaku responded as he dug out his ear using his index finger, making Toshiro annoyed. "I can't wait to see what this Kagoshima-kid's got. It'll be interesting if nothing else!"

Rangiku pattered herself down and immediately frowned. "I need to get drunk while the night's still young." The over exuberance Captain exclaimed. "And hopefully buy some clothes. I hear the World of the Living's full of expensive designer clothes that'd make me look just gorgeous!"

"That's enough lieutenant!" Toshiro yelled, eliciting a "yelp" out of Rangiku. "We're here to test the skills of one Kurosaki Ichigo, Kagoshima Ryosuke, and the strongest most dangerous one, Uzumaki Naruto. I'll be taking Uzumaki. We aren't here to play games!"

Rangiku soaked. "Alright Captain…" She sighed in a defeated voice. Ever since Toshiro became a Captain, it was like he just wasn't fun to be around anymore. Not saying that he was ever fun to begin with, but he was at the very least more fun to hang around with before he became a Captain. "Let's get some sleep then."

Ikkaku rolled his eyes, "So you can sneak off to drink and party all night long while Toshiro and I sleep." In response both Rangiku and Toshiro glared daggers at Ikkaku, making him chuckle a bit. "Alright, let's sleep then."

* * *

**Later that Night – With Naruto, Karin, and Yuzu**

The sun dropped quickly to Naruto, Karin, and Yuzu as they walked to Naruto's home. For the most part they stayed in silence with Naruto intently focused on Ryosuke and the words Ichigo had spoken to him.

Something about those words just clicked something inside of Naruto, as if he was blinded by sand and Ichigo had switched on a light bulb within his head, allowing the blond to see clearly once again despite the mass of dirt in his face.

Ryosuke was his friend, his only friend, his best friend as much as he didn't want to admit it. For the most part it was just him and Ryosuke although their childhood without too many kids barring Yuzu and Karin that would speak and hang with them.

It left an exasperated feeling inside of Naruto's gut realizing Ichigo was right all along. That meant that punch he had given the blond was justified. Naruto can't attack Ichigo back for that, Yuzu and Karin wouldn't be happy with him.

Or would they? Who was to say they'd to find out. Maybe Naruto could follow Ichigo into a dark alleyway and beat the crap out of him in there… but wait, that doesn't sound right. And besides, Ichigo was a lot stronger that Naruto had recently given him credit for. Ichigo had bruised Naruto's cheek from the force of which he had struck him with before they rushed to the hospital with Ryosuke.

That was a hard punch if there ever were one.

Yuzu and Karin had their minds intently focused on that man who'd put Ryosuke-san in the hospital in the first place. What was his game? His purpose, his motives for doing the things he was doing? Didn't he have any remorse? He purposefully raised his energy to abnormal levels just to hurt Karin. And just to add insult to injury he sent her maniacal telepathic messages through her head.

They all would've pondered Goro's motives a bit longer if they hadn't caught sight of a familiar person wearing a silver shirt, a silver pair of pants, white gloves, white sandals on her feet and a white cape placed over her shoulders.

"Grandma Tomoyo…"

"We need to talk."

The seriousness of Naruto's grandma caught the kids by surprise. And what was with that strange attire that she was wearing. She looked like an old folk hero, kind of like Superman but obviously much weaker because no one beats Superman.

Overpowered bitch if there ever were one…

Tomoyo made a gesture with her hand telling the kids to follow her to her house. They didn't know what was going on but from the straightforward look she was giving them they quickly complied and followed behind the old lady.

As Naruto, Karin, and Yuzu trailed behind Tomoyo, Karin raised an delicate eyebrow after sensing Tomoyo's power, "Naruto, Yuzu-chan," she whispered so Tomoyo wouldn't hear her. "I think Lady Tomoyo-sama maybe some kind of warrior, or something. She's giving off quite a strong energy signature."

"I sensed that myself." Naruto admitted in a return whisper. "I'm not really sure what to make of it to be honest. I never thought of my grandma than anything else but a feeble kind old lady. Believe it."

"Do you think Lady Tomoyo-sama's been training in secret while you're at school Naruto-kun?" Yuzu chipped in a guess. "It does seem pretty strange all of a sudden."

"As strange as it is that I can suddenly sense someone else's life energy." Karin deadpanned. As they continued to move down the road following Tomoyo's lead, the full moon shining brightly on them. "I suppose this really isn't any different. Especially if you consider the fact Naruto released that orange energy a month ago and we still don't know how he done that."

Naruto sweat dropped, "Yeah."

Yuzu smiled brightly, "This all feels like a mystical adventure of sorts. We just don't what's going to happen next." She threw her and Naruto's arms up in the air in an over exaggerated way.

Naruto grinned cheekily at Yuzu, making her cheeks turn pink, and he would've made a snappy remark about that if he hadn't realized that Tomoyo had stopped right in front of their home. "Ah! Home sweet home," Naruto let go of his girls' hands to move in front of the door, "I've got this grandma Tomoyo."

Tomoyo nodded, "Okay Naruto-chan."

Naruto shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out his house keys. He jabbed said key into the lock, turn it, and pushed the door open. "I'm home Yuichi-san!" Naruto would've palmed his face that he never thought to ask his grandma why she'd left Yuichi on his own if hadn't caught glimpse of someone's gleam. "Oh no…"

"You're late… Narrutooooooo!"

Karin was deadpanned and Yuzu was damn right curious to see their father flying towards Naruto from out of the blonde's own home. Of course the moment Isshin was within touching distance of Naruto; Naruto grabbed his leg, spun on his heel, and sent Isshin sprawling back into the house, landing on the couch as if he had been there the whole time.

"Aaaaaaaaaaah!" Isshin cried.

Tomoyo's eyes widened while Yuzu and Karin only smiled proudly at Naruto, already knowing he would counter effectively without really hurting Isshin. 'Whoa… I know my little Naruto-chan was strong, but I never expected him to be that strong!'

Little feet hit the ground before a tiny boy dashed towards Naruto with his arms thrown to the side. "Nii-chan!" Yuichi happily said as Naruto picked him up and held him up in the air. "You're so strong!" Yuichi already loved Naruto, his nii-chan was so big and powerful; he could takedown grown men like they were nothing.

"Aww, I know, believe it." Naruto chuckled as Yuichi rubbed his face against his face, making both Yuzu and Karin smile warmly at them. "Oh yeah-" Naruto turned his little brother to look at Yuzu and Karin. "Yuichi, I like you to meet Karin-chan, and Yuzu-chan. They're going to be your big sisters after I marry them someday. Believe it!"

Both Karin and Yuzu let out an "aww" at the cute little boy in Naruto's arms, making the boy shyly turn his head away from them. "He's adorable Naruto-kun!" Yuzu cooed out as she slightly tickled Yuichi's cheeks. "I didn't know you'd a brother."

"Me either!"

Karin and Yuzu would've raised their eyebrows if Tomoyo hadn't taken Yuichi from Naruto's grasp and decided to choose that moment to start elaborating on some important matters. "Naruto-kun…" Tomoyo began, trying to find the best way to explain what needed to be told. "Did you happen to run into a tall man with black hair and shades over his eyes?" She started with that.

Karin, Yuzu, and Naruto's eyes instantly widened. That told Tomoyo and Yuichi all they needed to know. Goro had attacked them in some way. "That mean man was scary!" Yuichi exclaimed, tugging onto Tomoyo's head.

"Wait…" Karin started, trying to come to terms with what Tomoyo was telling them. "You know that man Lady Tomoyo-sama? He practically overloaded my senses when he flared up a bit of his power."

"I thought so." Tomoyo replied a bit guiltily. As Naruto, Yuzu, and Karin paid close to what she was saying. "Yeah, I know him, because I was the one who taught him to fight in the way of the Quincy in the first place."

"The way of the Quincy," Yuzu repeated, completely confused by that. "Are you saying that you're a warrior Lady Tomoyo-sama?" Yuzu inquired and Tomoyo nodded regretfully. "It's like Karin had sensed when we were walking here. You really are a strong warrior!"

"Grandma's amazing!" Yuichi blessedly complimented as he hugged a saddened looking Tomoyo tight to himself.

Karin noticed the sad look on Tomoyo's features. "What happened between you and that man Lady Tomoyo-sama? Something must've happened to him, because he sounded like he wanted to end the world and everyone in it." Karin exclaimed and Naruto just stared blankly, not quite sure what to say.

Tomoyo nodded slowly. "Yeah, he was once a nice boy back when he knew your mother, Masaki-chan."

The air around Karin, Yuzu, and Naruto tensed considerably. That man had known Yuzu, Karin, and Ichigo's mother! How? Things were starting to unravel in a strange way and Karin needed some answers now. "How is that possible Lady Tomoyo-sama?" she voiced Yuzu and Naruto's thoughts.

"I think I should put Yuichi to bed first." Yuzu, Naruto, and Karin nodded in understanding. A sweet innocent boy like Yuichi didn't need to hear this in case it would end up giving him nightmares. "Isshin can start off the explanation though." She exclaimed as she walked in her house to take the tired youngster up to his and Naruto's room.

A bewildered Yuzu, Naruto, and Karin strolled into the home of Naruto and Tomoyo to see the usual goofy Isshin with a serious look upon his features.

This was no laughing matter.

* * *

**Elsewhere – With Ryosuke**

"Hello, is anyone there?" Ryosuke called out as he found himself floating in an endlessly black void that seemed to mesmerize Ryosuke just by its emptiness. "What happening to me?"

"_You're so unworthy of the power of the Quincy." _The same voice, the voice responsible for the way he was for most of his life. _"You want revenge, eh? Is that it? You're __incompetence __my boy."_

Ryosuke's eyes were filled with terror when he was forced to relive the most painful experience of his life. "No… stop it!" He cried as an image of a bloody old man wearing a black shihakusho lay before Ryosuke in a patch of fresh ground. He had a broken Zanpakuto resting at his side before it vanished into nothingness. "Grandpa…" He murmured as he forced back salty tears from pouring down his eyes seeing his beloved master and grandpa lifeless before him. "Why…!" His sadness then turned to rage and fury.

"_You mad son?" _The voice taunted rhetorically. "_Don't fear the truth Kagoshima Ryosuke. He was a senile old man. I should know, I was his son, and he was my father. I knew killing him was for the best.__ He corrupted you and put you on the path to becoming a shinigami.__"_The voice was so calm and breathless it was almost annoying. "_I thought if I-" _A picture of a smug brown haired man wearing sunglasses suddenly appeared wide in Ryosuke's line of vision. _"-Kagoshima Goro killed Kagoshima Koji, then that would save my son, Kagoshima Ryosuke, from the side of wrong, the shinigami. Turns out I failed_."

"Shut up!" Ryosuke said, frustration building up inside of him as he held his head and tried to block Goro's words out. "I desired to be a shinigami for my own reasons! I'd never desired to be a pussy ass bow and arrow fighter, which was your thing, and still is by the looks of things!"

"_Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha," _Goro's maniacal laughter echoed throughout the void, making Ryosuke want to chew off his ears just to make the noise stop. "_Where do you get off acting so big and cool, __your __incompetence __mind__ cannot__ possibly comprehend the immense power of the Quincy__. And soon your lack of knowledge may very well cost you __and __the people you__ hold most dear__ in the world. Take that __orange haired__ girl sitting by your bedside. D__on't think I don't know about the other one__ too__. I have a rich vein of knowledge to use at my disposition.__ And you act so cool that can't even introduce them to your own father.__"_

Ryosuke's eyes widened. "Stay away from Orihime and Ururu!"

"_Or what?" _He mocked and Ryosuke had no answer. "_L__et me guess, you're going to use the power of 'feelings', 'friendship__'__, and 'love'. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Don't make me laugh. That will never work. You were born to fail Ryosuke, don't you understand." _As he spoke this, an image of a blond-boy with sharp fangs appeared next in Ryosuke's messed up mind. "_How many times has Naruto defeated__ you without __so much of __gaining a scratch__? Yo__u're so weak it's__ not even worth funny at.__ I bet if you gave your old man a hug every once in a while you may actually get stronger.__" _

Ryosuke's confidence dropped faster than a sumo wrestler falling from the sky. "U-Uzumaki," He stammered his growl. "You're always there, laughing in my face every time I get stronger… why won't you leave me alone Uzumaki!" He shut his eyes and clenched his fists as he roared ferociously.

Ryosuke was beginning to lose it, and Goro knew it. "_That's right son, just throw it the towel. You cannot possibly hope to defeat me at your current strength level. I bet you couldn't even defeat 'Ginger'."_

At the mention of Ichigo, Ryosuke's eyes sharpened into dangerous eagle-like eyes. "No! I'm stronger than him, I have to be! He doesn't even train; he doesn't want to fight like me or Uzumaki! I'm stronger, I have to be… at the very least… no."

"_Oh, you really __think __you are. Let me tell you something Ryosuke-boy, you were acciden__t. I wish Ginger was my son. He__ would make for a __more fitting son than a waste of time like you_."_ Ouch_. Talk about hitting Ryosuke where it hurt. "Mw, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" Goro's devilish rang loudly in his Ryosuke's ears.

Ryosuke couldn't take it anymore. He was on the verge of mentally breaking down. And this was what it took. A few little insults and he was on his knees begging for mercy. Was this truly the extent of his will and power?

"**Is that really all you've got?" **

Ryosuke's eyes suddenly popped open. But he never found himself in the real world, he instead he found himself standing on a brown platform surrounded by familiar molten lava.

"Did you drag me in here?" Ryosuke asked the green spirited dragon living inside of him. "What do you want? Can't you see I'm busy having an emotional breakdown?"

"**You're so pathetic**." The green beast responded in a calm but belligerently way, making Ryosuke scowl at him. "**So your dad'****s dissing you**** and making you feel worthless. Big whoop! It doesn't matter as long as y-"**

"What? As long as I 'believe in myself', fuck that shit! I've had enough with that dumb shit! If someone's like thousand times stronger than me, then what's the fucking point!? I would just be prolonging the inevitable, my death!"

His Zanpakuto stayed silence as it favoured staring at Ryosuke with a nonchalant look on his face. It was weird. But Ryosuke's quick to give-up-attitude when the tough gets going was what actually gave him his strength. As if part of him couldn't and/or wouldn't die, and would keep fighting even if the majority refused to do so.

The warrior spirit that burned brightly within Ryosuke kept him going. And his Zanpakuto spirit knew that all too well. And with that on his mind there was really only one thing left to do, "**Ryosuke**…" He gained Ryosuke's full attention. "**You may not be strong enough to hear both our names. But at the very least you can hear my name**." Ryosuke had a glint in his eye. "**My name is…**

* * *

**Spirit World – With Manta **

Manta was once again stomping paperwork Anna-sama made him do. Damn, how he missed the days when he and Yoh would hang out and do guy stuff. And now it was paperwork this, and paperwork that, and Yoh got to keep the balance running smoothly among the Demon-World, the World of the Living, Hueco Mundo, and the World of the Shinobi, or else Armageddon would occur.

Same old lectures Anna-sama would give Manta whenever he would be caught lacking off.

She could be a real salve worker, but Manta would never tell her that. Seeing as Anna-sama could read his mind and find out what he was thinking about, she'd done it before and wouldn't be afraid to do it again.

A peeping sound alerting Manta of an intense amount of spiritual pressure rising. "No way…"

Manta's eyes widened upon seeing a little machine that was on his desk the read Ryosuke's power level. "Ryosuke's power level just suddenly shot up to a High B-class lieutenant! What the hell is he?" He was inexplicable to Manta. Ryosuke had high D rank spiritual pressure not too long ago, and spontaneously he had High B lieutenant class spiritual pressure after a minute.

If Yoh and the gang had this way of fighting back in their own time, then situations would've been a lot easier to handle.

Manta sighed, "Now I have to file a report on this…"

* * *

**Hospital – With Orihime and Ryosuke**

Orihime's anxiety rose when Ryosuke began fidgeting on his bed. She could only hold onto his hand and squeeze tightly, praying that the boy she'd become so fond with would wake up and be his old miserable self again.

"Please wake up Ryosuke-kun." Orihime pleaded with her hand gripped tightly with Ryosuke's. "I couldn't bare it if I lost you," She cried. But then her eyes lit up when the sheets rattled and said boy in question rose from his place on his bed with a bandage tied around his injured forehead. "Ryosuke-kun!" Orihime cried tears of relief as she lung herself at Ryosuke and embraced him in a tight hug. "I almost lost you."

Tatsuki came running in from where she was waiting, and felt her own eyes begin to water at seeing Ryosuke regain consciousness, "Ryosuke-idiot." She cried as she walked over to Ryosuke and bonked him on his head, "It's nice to see that you're alive."

Ryosuke remained surprisingly calm despite being hit on the head by a 'woman' as he would say in his moody voice. He glanced at the palm of his hand and gazed intently at it, as if marvelling at the new power he'd been granted, 'magnificent.'

"Hm, Ryosuke-ku- I mean Kagosh-"

"No," Ryosuke calmly cut off Orihime when the orange burnt haired girl tried to correct herself. "I'm not Kagoshima, he was my father. No longer I am his son. I have changed."

Orihime and Tatsuki both noticed the way Ryosuke spoke in the past-tense when speaking of his father, but decided not to press the matter because they were too relieved to see that Ryosuke was okay… or at the very least conscious.

"What do you mean by that Ryo-kun?" Orihime blushed from accidental nickname she called him.

Ryosuke breathed easy, "I'm now Fuji Ryosuke…"

* * *

**Tomoyo's house – With Naruto, Yuzu, Karin, Tomoyo, and Isshin**

After Tomoyo had put Yuichi to bed, she eventually sat down next to Isshin around the dinner table where Naruto, Yuzu, and Karin were. The kids were eagerly waiting to find out what their respective guardian/parent were hiding from them. And they would've got an explanation but for a sharp-eyed Karin that'd got everyone's attention.

"What is it Karin-chan?" Yuzu asked curiously.

"Ryosuke-san's energy just _went_ up a whole other level," Karin responded to her twin sister, shocking Naruto a bit, and Tomoyo greatly as she did.

Naruto had a quick feel for Ryosuke's energy, "It has as well. Damn, that's some good sensing ability Karin-chan." Naruto complimented and Karin blushed because Naruto had quickly planted a kiss on her cheek. "And one for Yuzu-chan too," He couldn't leave out Yuzu, so he quickly crashed his lips onto her cheek, eliciting a blush out of her.

Naruto inexplicably got the strange urge to bite Karin and Yuzu, as if something was telling him he had to claim his mates by doing so. 'What's happening to me?' Naruto licked his lips slightly when he saw the flushed looks on the girls' faces. He was turning into an animal.

Luckily Isshin chose to compliment his daughter on her sensing ability, "Ah, Karin-chan, excellent job! Your mother would be so proud of you." He flashed a goofy grin, making confused expressions appear on the kids' faces.

"Are you trying to say that mommy was also a Quincy like Lady Tomoyo-sama?" Yuzu wondered and Isshin nodded with his eyes narrowed. "No way…" Things were almost becoming too much for young Yuzu to take. First off Naruto skipped school then she and Karin see a tremendous thunder shoot upwards the sky. Afterwards Karin then exclaimed she felt Naruto's energy skyrocket through the roof during that lighting spike. Now her mother was apparently a warrior.

Karin placed her finger on her bottom lip, "This is starting to get a bit supernatural." Naruto felt a bead of sweat roll off of the side of his face, making Karin glare at him. "What are you hiding from us Naruto!" she spoke, demandingly.

Oh shit, they'd him cornered now, "K-Karin-dear, I'm not hiding anything from you two. You know I would ever hide anything from my g-"

"Don't lie to us!" Karin snapped as she slammed her fist directly onto the table, eliciting a flinch out of Naruto. "I've been sensing your energy for some time now. There's no way a normal human can be as strong as you Naruto! I know you must've some strange lightning power!"

The widened look on Naruto's face told Karin and Yuzu all they needed to know. He had been keeping a secret from them. And here he thought was doing a pretty good job of keeping it from them. He only wanted to protect them at the end of the day. "Karin-chan…" He spoke first, looking into the dark eyes of Karin. "Yuzu-chan…" He turned around and stared into the puppy dog eyes of Yuzu. "I'm sorry."

How could he ever keep a secret from them? They were just so sweet and beautiful. Their blood must taste good with a side of fries and some ramen. What? The urge to bite Karin and Yuzu only grew stronger within Naruto. 'I've got to fight this,' Naruto thought with determination. He wasn't a monster; even know his girls looked increasingly tasty. No! He had to get those negative thoughts out of his head. Or were they negative? The blond-wolf boy only wanted to bite them and an officially claim them as his mates, not kill them. "I-I'm a sh-"Admitting he was a shinigami to Yuzu and Karin would be a start though. Then maybe he could bite Yuzu and Karin afterwards.

"Can I borrow your soul badge Naruto-kun?"

Those were the words of Isshin. And from the astounded look on Naruto's face, he knew he had hit the nail on its head. But then again Naruto shouldn't be all that surprise, seeing as Kisuke and Isshin were good friends. He should've questioned Kisuke a bit more but his warrior spirit sort of overshadowed any doubts he may've had about Kisuke training him. And he found that his legs rushed him off to the training with a brave face on his features to enter the amazing world of the shinigamis.

"What's a soul badge daddy?" Yuzu asked and Naruto pulled out a square badge with a flaming skull on it, making Yuzu and Karin's eyebrows rise. "Is that a soul badge Naruto-kun?"

Naruto nodded and handed Isshin his soul badge. Karin spoke intellectually, "Naruto, did you happen to get that strange badge from that weird guy who came to train you a month ago." It was the most logical theory she could come up with. And from the dumbfounded look on Naruto's face, she knew she was right. "Hey old man what are you going to do with Naruto's soul badge. Does this have something to with 'uncle Kisuke'?" She finished sarcastically.

Isshin's eyes widened that she was even able to remember some of that day; he had thought Rukia's memory eraser/replacer thing sorted that problem out. It worked on him for the most part until Kisuke gave him back his memory. All this just meant that his precious daughters were spiritually aware as much as he had tried to pervert it. They were special; he felt he had to protect them unlike Ichigo. Ichigo was a big boy; he could take care of himself.

However, there was no point in hiding it any longer, so with his eyes narrowed again, the goofy doctor pressed Naruto's badge into his physical body.

Flabbergasted looks were plastered all over Karin, Yuzu, and Naruto's faces when they saw Isshin's body slump forward and blue lines of energy spouted from his body before another Isshin dressed in a black shihakusho came out of the now empty shall that was Isshin's physical body. Smiling sheepishly to the shocked kids, Isshin nervously said, "Yeah, I'd my own secrets."

Tomoyo placed a hand on Isshin's shoulder, "Yuzu-chan, Karin-chan, this is what's called a shinigami, a death god that goes around helping the wandering souls pass on to the Soul Society, otherwise known as heaven." Taking Karin and Yuzu's silence as a sign to continue Tomoyo did so, "Naruto-chan is also a shinigami."

Turning their heads sharply to look at the sweaty Naruto, both girls came him expectant looks.

Naruto sighed, "Yeah, I'm a lean, mean, shinigami machine. Believe it." Hey, if he was going to come clean to his girls then he may as well do it in some fashion. From the deadpan look on Karin's pretty face and the exasperated look on Yuzu's, Naruto knew he hadn't impressed them. "Aww… but I'm a shinigami though. I'm stronger then old man Isshin too."

Isshin hummed. "You're right Naruto-kun; you're a lot more powerful than me, which is a good thing because we'll need your power Naruto-kun for the future battles that lie ahead with Goro-san."

"Goro-san," Karin and Yuzu repeated, their eyes wide and their jaws slightly dropping off.

"Kagoshima Goro, he's Ryosuke's father!" Tomoyo explained and Naruto, Karin, and Yuzu all gasped immensely. "Isshin, you should call Ichigo-kun and Rukia-chan first. This involves them as much as it involves you Naruto. I'm sorry to have to say but we're going to be relying heavily on you and your power Naruto." Naruto was speechless as Isshin pulled out his phone to call his son. "Once Ichigo-kun and Rukia-chan get here we'll begin the tale of Goro."

Karin, Yuzu, and Naruto could only nod slowly. Neither of them failed to grasp the seriousness of the situation at hand.

* * *

**Please make sure to always leave a review. I'm Flint009, and I'm signing off, peace!**


	15. Bonds Strengthening

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or Naruto**

* * *

**Chapter 15**

** Bonds Strengthening**

Strange? Strange was the very thought that ran through Ichigo and Rukia's minds as Ichigo opened the door to the Kurosaki household and walked in, shortly followed by Rukia.

The home of the Kurosaki's was deserted for the most part except for the Strawberry and former shinigami of the Gotei thirteen, who'd both just strolled in not too long ago.

Ichigo wondered around the house and tried to call out to his family, "Hey old man! Yuzu! Karin!" He instinctively flinched when he called out his father's name, because he'd expected him to attack him at any given moment. And the fact that the orange haired man got no response only left a look of bewilderment evident on his face. "Where the hell are they?"

Rukia ventured a guess as she sat down on the couch and gracefully crossed one leg over the other, "Maybe they're at Naruto-san's house." The deadpan look on Ichigo's face told her he didn't think that was an option. "It's a possibility that Karin and Yuzu would be at Naruto-san's house," Rukia explained impassively. "Perhaps they thought they needed sometime away from you."

If that hurt Ichigo, it didn't show on his expression as he calmly and coolly leaned back against the wall and folded his arms over his chest. "Probably," he admitted somewhat reluctantly. He honestly hated Naruto. "But then where's my dad?" Because Isshin would've no business at Naruto's house, unless he was there to see Naruto's grandma.

Rukia was thinking around the same lines. "He could also be at Naruto-san's house. It is getting late after all." And from what she'd saw of Isshin, she knew the goofy doctor was obsessed over his daughters, and would cling to them every chance he got. "He's probably there to pick them up."

Ichigo nodded, "Makes sense I suppose." Then, one might call it spontaneous, Ichigo's phone started going off. "Now who the hell could that be!?" Ichigo raged as he stabbed his hand into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "Oh, it's the old man." Ichigo stated in a deadpan tone.

"Well answer it then." Rukia ordered as if she were the police. "At least now you can find out where he's at." Which made sense to her, Surely Isshin wouldn't just phone his son to say hello. And from the few things she'd saw him do, that would back up that claim. The goofy man usually attacked his son and left him to his own devices while he tried to tend to Karin and Yuzu.

Ichigo gave Rukia an annoyed look before flipping open his phone to speak with his usual goofy father, "Yo old man, where the hell are you, Karin, and Yuzu?" Ichigo inquired as he decided to get straight down to the point.

"_At Tomoyo-chan's house_," From the exasperated look on Ichigo's face, Rukia could tell they were all at Naruto-san's home. "_Ichigo, do you know where Tomoyo-chan lives?" _Isshin asked in a serious tone of voice.

It alarmed Ichigo how grave his father sounded. "Old man, what the hell's going on?" Now Ichigo needed some answers. And he spoke with authority. "First I come home to find no one's even home! And now you're telling me over the phone to come to Naruto's home when I hate that bastard kid!" Ichigo could've sworn he heard a snorting sound come through the phone.

Isshin let out a hum of understanding, while ignoring Naruto. Of course it was all very confusing to Ichigo. But unfortunately for Ichigo, it was about to get a whole lot more mind blowing. "_I'm a shinigami… son_." Isshin admitted in a straightforward tone. No sense in hiding it any longer.

Ichigo's eyes widened as the phone dropped from his grasp. "Shinigami," he murmured and Rukia quickly grabbed his phone before it hit the ground and held it up to Ichigo's ear, which was a strain on Rukia's part seeing as she only came up to Ichigo's waist. "What the hell are you talking about old man!? Just last month you couldn't see R-"he stopped himself as he grabbed his phone from Rukia and realized what he was about to say.

"_I know about Rukia-chan_." Isshin admitted again and even Rukia heard him and gasped immensely. "_There's much to discuss, son. Please come down to Naruto-san's house and I'll explain everything; Involving my origin of being a shinigami and your mother's own origin."_

Silence befallen Ichigo. He couldn't believe what he was hearing! His father was supposedly a shinigami before him. But then why'd he lie about not seeing Rukia a month ago. A wide-eyed Ichigo could only dumbly ask, "Do you know that I am-"

"_Yes." _Isshin cut off Ichigo, already knowing what he was going to say. "_I know that you are a shinigami Ichigo-boy!" _Taking the silence as a sign to continue, Isshin did just that. "_I may look like a goofy old man but I'm a lot smarter then I look_." Wasn't that the truth? Ichigo had no idea his own father was a shinigami. And Isshin sensed that his boy would want some clarification why he didn't use his powers earlier, "_I gave up my powers years ago so I could be with your mother, son. My powers have only just recently developed back again."_

The bewildered teen shook his head, trying to come to terms with what his father was telling him. "So hold up, are you trying to tell me that he came from the Soul Society like Rukia here? Or did some shinigami give you her powers like Rukia did to me?"

"_It's the former." _Isshin answered indignity. "_I'll see you in a little while Ichigo."_ With that Isshin ended the call, leaving Ichigo's eyebrow twitching in annoyance.

"What the hell is going on?!" Ichigo fumed. He had just found out his father was a shinigami from the Soul Society, like Rukia. Who could blame him for being mad? "Did you know about this!?" He belligerently inquired at the short woman at his side.

"I'm just as surprised as you are." Rukia responded impassively. And really she was shocked. "I wasn't around when your father was around the Soul Society, just so you know."

Ichigo was pounding his head against the side, "This can't be happening!" He fumed. "My father's apparently a shinigami who came from the Soul Society. My mother-" At the mention of his mother, Ichigo felt the life drain out of him. "Mommy…"

Rukia held a sympathetic look on her face. "Ichigo…" she started as she softly touched Ichigo's arm. "I'm here for you if you need to talk." She knew that Ichigo was suffering inside. After all she herself had suffered similar pain like Ichigo. "I understand the burden you-"

"Shut up!" Ichigo shouted belligerently as he shrugged Rukia's hand off of his arm, making her take an involuntary step back. "You don't understand my burden! No one does! You have no right to stand there and say you understand me when you have no idea what I'm responsible for." Rukia stood silent, staring at Ichigo with an astounded look on her pretty face. "Because of me, my… my… mother died! All because of me!" Rukia gasped and Ichigo continued. "So don't stand there and say you understand me."

"…Ichigo." Rukia whispered softly as she tried to think of something to say. She had never realized how strongly Ichigo felt about his mother, and honestly felt bad for bringing it up. The boy obviously had a painful experience in losing his mother. She must've sounded like a right insensitive woman, "I-Im-"

"Save it!" Ichigo didn't want to hear Rukia's apologises. "I'm out of here!" Ichigo turned towards the door of his home and began charging towards his door.

Rukia reached out to Ichigo and tried to grab him, but Ichigo shrugged her off, "But Ichigo, what about your father's origins. He's at Naruto's house right now waiting for you to go over there!"

"I don't care anymore!" Ichigo shouted, belligerently. As he aggressively pulled open the door and walked out. "I need some space now!"

Rukia's eyes were downcast, "Don't be like this Ichigo!" She pleaded almost tearfully.

But Ichigo didn't listen to her, and instead stormed out of the home in something of a tandem.

Rukia slammed her hand against the wall. "Damn." She swore before she calmed down and started thinking more intellectually, "I must've sounded real cruel to him." She bit her top lip. "I have to go find him."

* * *

**Tomoyo's house**

Isshin was impatiently waiting for his son Ichigo to arrive. He knew he wouldn't take the whole "I'm a shinigami thing" down well. That and the fact his beloved mother had a secret past he never knew about. "Come on. Come on. Come on." Isshin repeated as he walked back and forth with his arms behind his back. "Things need to be explained Ichigo-boy." Isshin stated fidgety.

"Isshin-kun," The old Quincy started, trying to remain as calm as she could. "Pacing around isn't going to make Ichigo suddenly show up, you know." Tomoyo stated as she watched Karin and Yuzu avoiding eye-contact with Naruto, "Maybe he just needs time to come to terms with what you've told him."

Isshin strolled into the living room and sat down on the couch with a heavy thud. "Hmm," His expression took on a thoughtful look as he sat in his shinigami form. "I should've kept my powers. It was my fault. If only I'd my powers then Masaki-chan would still be alive."

"Don't say that!" Tomoyo screamed as she ran into the living room and grabbed her old student's arms, "You can't blame yourself, Isshin-kun. You didn't know what was going to happen the night she was eradicated. If we knew what was going on then we would've both tried to prevent it!"

Isshin nodded stiffly, trying his hardest not to cry. His family needed him after all. No matter how guilty and responsible he felt for the death of Masaki he'd to stay strong. "I know… I j-just wish I could see her once more." It was why he'd a big poster of Masaki in his home. As much as his children resented it, he loved it.

A nod of understanding came from Tomoyo as she comfortingly wrapped her arms around Isshin. Times were hard. "I know." She admitted softly, "We all miss her."

Meanwhile both Karin and Yuzu were silently crying. How could their Naruto keep a secret from them? Didn't he love them? Those were the thoughts both Yuzu and Karin were having as they gripped their skirts and lowered their heads so Naruto wouldn't see their eyes.

"Yuzu-chan, Karin-chan," Naruto started, trying to get his girls to respond to him. "Please… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lie to you. Please don't leave me." Naruto pleaded. These girls meant everything to him.

Karin wiped her eyes slightly, "Don't you trust us… Naruto," she whimpered and Yuzu gave a muffed 'hmm' in agreement with her twin sister. "We've been best friends for so long. I didn't think we would keep things from each other." And they'd been friends for years, ever since they'd met Naruto six years when the blond was playing by himself in the park. They mostly did things together except for the times when Naruto was at the arcade with Ryosuke, but they were always dead honest with each other.

Yuzu and Karin almost fell off of their seats when they felt their chairs shifted around to face the blond that was kneeled in front of them with an apologetic look on his face. "Yuzu-chan, Karin-chan," He looked at them up and down. From their short skirts they were wearing to their short but beautiful legs. They looked stunning in their school uniforms. And Naruto felt butterflies in his stomach looking at their red stained cheeks from their tears. 'They're so sweet.' Naruto thought as he leaned in closer towards Yuzu.

"Naruto-kun…" Yuzu spoke through her tears as she continued to watch Naruto edge closer towards her until his tongue was near her face. "What are you doi-"Yuzu trailed off as she felt her cheek covered with saliva, "Naruto!" Naruto was licking Yuzu's face as if the blond had become a true animal and was claiming his mates by doing so.

Karin and Yuzu both watched with disbelieving eyes as Naruto continued to lick the salty tears away from Yuzu's cheeks. It tasted nice to Naruto. Almost as nice as ramen; but strangely enough, it felt right to Naruto. And that frightened him as much as it did pleasure him. What was he becoming an animal? Why'd he feel the great urge to bite Yuzu and Karin?

Had Naruto become a hollow? He did wait at the very last minute to free himself from Shattered Shaft. Maybe that played a part in him becoming more animal-like.

Naruto would've to make a mental note to go ask Kisuke later. Maybe he would know why he desired to claim Karin and Yuzu as his mates by biting them. He would find out. After Naruto was finished licking a stunned Yuzu's face, he reached over towards Karin.

Karin flinched and involuntary moved her head away from Naruto because she saw a shine in the blonde's mouth. The widened look on Naruto's face told Karin that he was hurt by her reaction. Karin and Yuzu had never looked at him like that. Sometimes the other kids at school and a few adults here and there would, but never Karin and Yuzu.

A look of guilt was seen in Karin's eyes as she edged her head towards Naruto, allowing the blond-wolf boy to lick her face. It didn't bother Yuzu, so by all right it should've bothered her either. And surprisingly enough Karin found Naruto's licks more relaxing and soothing than anything else.

After Naruto had pulled away from Karin with a look of content on his face, Yuzu pointed towards his mouth, having noticed the sharp objects sticking out of the corners of his mouth. "Uhm… Naruto-kun," She started, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. "What are those?"

A look of confusion was on Naruto's face, "What do you mean Yuzu-chan." He couldn't keep the smile off of his face, he loved that he was getting closer to Yuzu and Karin in his own unique way. "I don't know what I got." _Except swagger._

"You have fangs, Naruto." Karin stated flatly despite the blush that'd stained her cheeks after Naruto had licked her.

That got Naruto to freeze in place momentarily before the blond reached for the corner of his mouth and softly poked at the two sharp fangs sticking out of his mouth. He pulled his hands away, a look of shock evident on his face. Since when did those appear? "Hmm," Naruto's face took on a thoughtful expression before he burst out laughing his head off, "Ha, ha, ha, ha."

His maniacal laughter only bewildered Yuzu and Karin as he leaned forward and planted two kisses on either of their faces, adorning their cheeks with more bright blushes. "Man, I look so cool!" Naruto blessedly commented as he folded his arms behind his head and flashed his girls a wolf-smirk. "I guess the hollowfication stage really paid off!"

"Hollow- what?!" Karin wondered, demandingly. "What do you mean by that Naruto?" Tomoyo had explained to them about the wandering spirits that wear white masks and go around eating other human souls to fill the emptiness within themselves. It definitely scared Karin and Yuzu at first, however they did feel comfortable when Naruto stated that shinigamis, such as him, go around and purify that wandering hollows. "Did you become…" Karin gulped. "A hollow?" she finished in a whisper.

Yuzu's eyes widened. "Naruto," she cried as she threw herself at Naruto and wrapped her arms around Naruto's head. "You can't be a hollow. You're too kind to be one, Naruto-kun."

"Yuzu…" Naruto spoke softly as he caressed Yuzu's hair, "Don't worry I just managed to avoid becoming a hollow about a month ago. Around the time after I'd showed Doctor scar-teme's ass," The wolf smirk on Naruto's face grew wide thinking about the way he'd first fucked up Doctor scar-teme. "There's nothing to worry about," he assured.

Realization suddenly sunk into Yuzu as she pulled herself away from Naruto, tears forming up in her eyes. "You mean… when you went missing for three days, Naruto-kun." Naruto whined and shifted his head away from Yuzu. "I knew it." Salty tears poured down Yuzu's cheeks, "You lied to me." Karin wrapped her arms around her sister Yuzu and sent a glare at Naruto.

"Yuzu-chan," Naruto remarked as he hugged Karin and Yuzu. "I never meant to lie to you girls. I… I just wanted to keep you girls safe. I didn't want you two girls worrying me. So I thought if I kept me being a shinigami from you two it'd keep the hollows away from you."

"That's stupid." Karin remarked through a few tears rolling down her cheeks, "You idiot!"

And Yuzu shockingly agreed with her twin sister, "Yeah." She'd never called Naruto an idiot before, but this time was an exception. "What'd you think would've happened Naruto-kun?" Did he think that they'd distanced themselves from him? "We wouldn't think any less of you, Naruto-kun."

Naruto stared at the two girls wrapped around his arms with a saddened look on his features, "I didn't know what I was thinking." Naruto admitted. "It was kind of hard to explain to you after Shadow-Eyes inexplicably erased your minds. I… I thought that you'd both think I was crazy, like everyone else at our school." He finished in a dejected tone.

Karin might've asked how Shadow-Eyes erased their minds if Naruto hadn't said he 'inexplicably' did it. So she knew it would've been redundant to ask. "We let you lick us, dumbass." She stated flatly, getting Naruto to widen his eyes. "If that doesn't say we would accept you either way, than I don't know what would."

"Yuzu-chan, Karin-chan," Naruto spoke softly as he stared at his two girls' eyes shining with an undying resolve in them. "I should've known. I'm sorry."

Yuzu softly touched the lips of Naruto with her index finger, "You don't have anything to be sorry about, Naruto-kun." She said in a lovingly voice. "You've always been loyal to us." She said this as she slowly moved her head so her lips could meet Naruto's.

Naruto was speechless as Yuzu connected her lips with his. He let out a gasp, allowing Yuzu's tongue to penetrate his mouth. Their tongues wrestled with each other as electricity shot up both their spines. Naruto imagined he was in a world filled with nothing but the finest ramen as he felt two soft hands wrap around his head, trapping him immensely.

Finally when the need for air become too great, Yuzu and Naruto broke their kiss and panted heavily. "Y-Yuzu-chan…" Naruto said, almost breathless from the kiss Yuzu had given him. She'd really taken the initiative.

Yuzu smiled dreamily at Naruto, "I hope you see how much I care for you now, Naruto-kun." She romantically cooed.

Naruto grinned widely before turning to Karin who was having a hard time trying not to look expectant. As she caught Naruto's glance she lowered her head and gripped her skirt as tight as she could. "That's okay… Naruto. You don't have to-"

She never got the chance to finish as she suddenly found her lips locked against Naruto's. 'Naruto…' she thought as Naruto's tongue broke through her defences and found its way into her mouth, eliciting Karin's cheeks to turn bright red as Yuzu wrapped her arms around Karin and Naruto, and rested her head on Karin's shoulder.

It was so beautiful. Karin had never felt as electrified as when Naruto was crashing his lips against hers, wrapping his arms around her head, keeping her lock in the passionate kiss for as long as possible. Eyes closed tight, mind wondering off to a romantic soccer field. The moon light was shining in from the window, bathing the kissing Naruto and Karin, and Yuzu in all its beauty.

When Karin and Naruto desired air, they broke the kiss. A smirk was plastered on Naruto's face at Karin's stunned expression. "Naruto…" she whispered softly before a soft smile crossed her lips. "You kiss pretty well for an idiot." Well not really. They all sucked at kissing. But the fact they loved each other made their kiss with Naruto all the more beautiful.

Naruto rubbed his nostrils with his index finger, "Yeah… I know." His wolf grin threatened to break off of his face it was that wide. "So… I guess-" he folded his arms behind his head in a relax fashion. "I'm like-"

Yuzu smiled brightly, "Yep!" Yuzu said energetically and proudly. "We've always been yours anyway Naruto-kun," As soon as she said that, she and Karin found themselves lifted off of the ground and flung over Naruto's shoulders, "Naruto-kun!" Yuzu and Karin exclaimed.

Naruto yawned, "I'm tired now! Let's go to bed!"

"But Naruto, we still haven't heard why Goro turned evil!" Karin tried to reason.

"It can wait. Besides, Ichigo's not here. We can't start the story without him." And he doubted Ichigo would show up. They hated each other, "I'll say we leave it until tomorrow!" He jogged off towards the stairs with a flushed Karin and Yuzu on his shoulders.

A red-faced Karin looked over to Yuzu from her place on Naruto's left shoulder, "Well sis, I guess we'll be sharing from now on." She exclaimed and Yuzu just smiled as Naruto walked into his and Yuichi's room.

Isshin and Tomoyo had watched the whole scene with tears of happiness forming in their eyes, and pride welling up inside of them. It was hard at first for Isshin to see his two precious daughters growing up so fast, but he'd to restrain himself knowing Naruto could and would beat him to a bloody pulp if he tried to take Yuzu and Karin away from him.

"I love Naruto-san," Isshin whimpered, feeling honoured at the prospect of having a son in law with such overwhelming power, it was almost scary.

Tomoyo comfortingly tapped Isshin on his shoulder, "It's what Masaki would've wanted." Naruto could act like a badass. And for all intensive purposes, he was one. But that didn't change the fact he really cared for the Kurosaki twins. "I think they'll make a wonderful couple!"

Isshin wiped his tears away and smiled broadly, "Yeah, I know. I'm so proud." He knew Naruto would look after his daughters with all the incredible power he possessed. However, something was bothering Isshin, "I can't sense any hollow energy within Naruto." This was strange because he'd the teeth of a werewolf; surely he would've got that from the hollowfication stage Kisuke had told him Naruto fought off.

Tomoyo held a regretful look on her face as a flashback ran through her mind.

"_Take the baby." _Those were the words of Kenzo that'd ran through Tomoyo's mind. "_In twelve years time Kisuke will come and train Naruto. Trust me, he'll need it. Let's just say, he's special."_

Tomoyo would've gone deep in her flashback if Isshin hadn't tapped her on her shoulder, "It's probably just his natural teeth," she'd concluded it as that. She didn't mean to be rude to Kenzo, not after all he'd done for her. Giving her someone to look after when she was at her end, but the thought of her baby boy as some fierce beast sent shivers up Tomoyo's spine.

Isshin sent her a look that said 'I think you know something', but he nodded nevertheless. It was a long day and tomorrow would be even longer. And besides, Tomoyo never lied to him before so all should be well. "Guess I'll leave Ichigo a text, telling him not to come around today." Ichigo seemed in a bad mood when he tried to explain to him that he was a shinigami. "Maybe I'll tell him tomorrow when we head up to visit Masaki's grave," Because that'd be so much better.

Tomoyo flashed him a reassuring smile, "He'll come around, eventually," Stubborn kid. "You can sleep on the couch if you want." Tomoyo said as she began to ascend off towards her room.

Isshin smiled widely, "Thank you Tomoyo-chan."

Tomoyo was already half way up the stairs once Isshin's words reached her ears. She returned the thanks with a flick of her wrist, but knew it was redundant because he'd already sprinted off towards the couch. So Tomoyo sneaked towards Naruto's room. Once she made it within touching distance of the door, she turned the doorknob as silently as she could, and pushed the door just inches open, allowing her to get a peek of a sight that warmed her heart.

"Awww," There they were, both Yuzu and Karin already passed out, resting under Naruto's arms as the blond cuddled them close to his person on his average size bed. Little Yuichi was sleeping soundly on a well neatly made mattress beside Naruto's bed. "They look so peaceful," Tomoyo murmured so she wouldn't wake any of them up. Naruto had a huge dopey smile on his face as Yuzu and Karin's heads rested against his chest.

Tomoyo eye smiled at the scene before her, "I guess for the most part everything worked out." She said as she silently closed the door leading to Naruto's room. Tomoyo was worried that Naruto would lose his girls for keeping the fact his was a living; breathing death god that fought possessed spirits and led the souls to an eternity life in the soul society.

"Everything worked out… for now." Tomoyo finished in a grim tone as she walked into her own room.

* * *

**Elsewhere – With Orihime, Ryosuke, and Tatsuki**

As soon as Fuji Ryosuke woke up from his deep slumber within the hospital, he'd jumped up from his bed and marched straight out of the hospital, taking Orihime with him. Tatsuki and the nurses had tried to persuade Ryosuke to stay in the hospital until morning at the very least. However, Ryosuke scoffed at them, and stated he could do whatever he wanted because he'd no father to tell him what to do. The nurses counted this by exclaiming he'd a mother, and that she'd have to give them permission before they could release him.

Ryosuke had no comeback for that. So he picked up a flushed Orihime, threw her over his shoulder like she weighed nothing, and vanished straight out of the hospital as if he wasn't even there. He left jaws dropping off and eyes popping out of heads at the vanishing act.

Tatsuki had managed to catch up only because after Ryosuke had placed Orihime back onto her feet, the orange haired girl proceeded to be all embarrassed about Ryosuke flinging her over his shoulder, saying that she was heavy, and all that girly stuff that'd distracted them long enough for Tatsuki to close the distance.

Ryosuke calmly stated she wasn't that heavy before being punched in the head by a furious Tatsuki, "Bitch!" Ryosuke swore as he held his sore head and glared at the karate girl that'd just showed up. "Why'd you do that for?"

A scowling Tatsuki shook her fist with rage before pinching at Ryosuke's cheek, making a tick mark appear on his forehead. "First off, don't you ever call a woman heavy, Ryosuke-idiot!" She scolded him as if she were his older sister; the waggling of her finger added a good effect. It elicited a growl out of Ryosuke.

Orihime tried to dis-fuse the situation, "Tatsuki-chan it's really no big deal. I think Ryo-kun only meant I'm light to him because he's really strong now." She could almost feel his rock hard ribs crushing her stomach when he threw her over his shoulder, "It's okay, really." The exuberance girl laughed cheerily.

A sign of exasperation came to the lips of Tatsuki, "You're too forgiving Orihime." And really she was, but unfortunately for Ryosuke, Tatsuki wasn't. She turned around and narrowed her eyes at Ryosuke, who'd his hands shoved into his pockets and his back hunched forward. "Why'd you run away for? You should be resting in the hospital Ryosuke-idiot! You still haven't completely recovered from that attack your-" she cut herself off.

"Father," Ryosuke said impassively as he began ascending down the street with Orihime following by his side, "I don't care either way. I feel better anyway. Fuck my dad!"

Tatsuki ran up to Ryosuke's side and questioned him about his father. "Why'd your own father attack you anyway? That could've killed you! What father would do that to his own son?!" Very good point. Tatsuki knew her own father would never attack her the way Ryosuke's had done.

Ryosuke refused to dignify that with a response. To him, it was obvious. His father was a bastard! He needed to die! And Ryosuke would be the one to put him in the grave… one way or the other. Ryosuke had made it a personal vendetta to eradicate his father out of existence. And he would not fail. "Hm," a soft hand that rested on Ryosuke's arm made him gaze his eyes towards Orihime's worried face.

"Ryo-kun," Orihime said, her eyes pleading with Ryosuke to open up to her. "Please tell me that you'll at least be alright. It was scary when your father hit you with that… rubber. I thought I was going to lose you!" Tears formed up in Orihime's eyes.

Ryosuke sighed heavily before wiping Orihime's tears away with his thumb, "Don't cry." He wasn't sure if he could handle a moping girl. "Just be cool. I… it's not my job to make such a beautiful girl cry." Hearing that Ryo-kun thought she was beautiful only made Orihime cry out tears of happiness, eliciting an exasperated sigh out of Ryosuke.

Luckily for Ryosuke, a familiar voice got Orihime to quickly wipe her tears away with her hand, "Ryosuke!" Turning their heads to the sound of the voice, Ryosuke's expression turned dark upon seeing Kurosaki Ichigo. "You're alright," Ichigo said with a small smile on his face as he closed the distance between them surprisingly fast.

"Ginger," Ryosuke said nonchalantly, making Ichigo scowl at him. "What do you want, huh? Of course I'm alright! You think my father could keep me down?" Ryosuke shook his head with a disappointing look on his face, "Pathetic!"

Ichigo's face turned red with anger, "Bastard!" The bad attitude of Ryosuke reminded Ichigo why he hated the kid in the first place. "I carried you all the way to the hospital, and this is how you repaid me! I thought we were friends, damn it!"

An amused chuckle came from Ryosuke, "Friends?" Friends were for losers. He didn't have 'friends', he had rivals and girls. That was all he needed! That was all any man needed in life. That and a stupid kaa-chan to piss a man off! "When have we ever been friends, Ginger?"

Who the hell did Ryosuke think he was? Did he inexplicably forget about the time they'd both been heavily outclassed by Bobomaru? Or the time when he and Ryosuke had saved Orihime from her own brother? Don't those moments count for brotherly bonding, or some shit like that, "Bastard!" Ichigo couldn't take it. He stepped forward and placed his hand firmly on the shorter boy's shirt, making Orihime and Tatsuki widen their eyes. "I thought you'd honour, Ryosuke?! Where's the honour if you're just going to abandon your friends after they helped you?! Chad, Rukia,-"

"Who's Chad?" Ryosuke asked cockily before Ichigo could finish. "And I don't recall ever owning you any favours, Ginger." His smirk became almost sadistic, "Now, how about you let go of my shirt… before something bad happens to you, Ginger." The cold teen stated darkly.

Ichigo's eyes widened at the coldness evident in Ryosuke's eyes, but he wasn't about to be spoken to like he was something of prick about a boy no older than his sister. "I'll show you, bastard!" Ichigo ferociously yelled as he cocked his fist back and prepared to punch Ryosuke's lights out.

"Ichigo no/Kurosaki-san!" Tatsuki and Orihime yelled simultaneously as Ichigo felt his ear pulled down by a smaller girl.

"Ow!"

"Rukia-chan!" Orihime greeted as Rukia pulled Ichigo away from Ryosuke. She'd shown up while Ichigo was busy arguing with Ryosuke.

"Sorry about this idiot, Orihime-chan." Rukia said in a formal tone of voice, ignoring Ichigo's moans of pain as she continued to tug on his ear, "I hope Ichigo didn't caused you too much trouble Ryosuke-san."

Ryosuke kept his hands shoved into his pockets and nonchalantly replied, "No problem at all. I doubt his punch would've even done anything to me. I think I'm little strong for him now. Tell him to come back when he's on my level." He commented in a sarcastic-humble tone.

Ichigo looked at Ryosuke hatefully, "Hrughh!" Ichigo grunted. "This is why I hated you!" _Hated him?!_ Did Ichigo still think they were friends?

"Whatever."

Rukia and Tatsuki rolled their eyes at the lads' behaviour as Rukia let go of Ichigo's ear, permitting him to rub it with a painstakingly expression on his face.

"So what are you two doing out of here at this time?" Tatsuki asked curiously but also with a sly smile on her face, eliciting Rukia and Ichigo's cheeks to lighten up with the tiniest of pink.

In a bid to sheer the conversation in a different direction before his best friend questioned him on his blush, Ichigo shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out his phone, "My stupid old man said he wanted to discuss something with me at fucking Naruto's grandma's house. Then he left me a text not too long ago saying 'don't bother, we're too tired to deal with it today'!" He ranted before grinding his temples. "I swear my dad's a nob at times!"

Sweat-dropping aside from Rukia, Orihime, and Tatsuki, Ryosuke coolly strolled next to Ichigo, "I'm off." He leaned in to whisper something in Ichigo's ear, something that made Ichigo's blood boil but at the same time blush from embarrassment. "Hehe," Ryosuke let out a cocky laugh as he walked passed Ichigo and began making his way home.

"Wait up Ryo-kun!" The speed that Orihime flew passed Ichigo and Rukia, left them sweat-dropping as well as coughing up debris dust Orihime left trailing behind her, "I'm coming with you!" Orihime exclaimed as she held onto Ryosuke's arm, "I hope that's okay?" she asked hopefully.

Ryosuke had to resist groaning in frustration. One woman he could handle, but two, and probably three if Tatsuki decided to tag along. That was too much. However… "Okay…" he reluctantly agreed, he couldn't say no to Orihime. Damn it!

Orihime smiled blessedly as she crashed her lips against Ryosuke's cheek, making the slightly taller boy blush. "I can't wait to meet your kaa-chan, Ryo-kun." Maybe two wouldn't be so mad.

"Ahhhh," Tatsuki sighed. No! She can't come too. No! Not three women! "Guess I'll come too!" She could see Ryosuke paling by Orihime's side, "You haven't got a problem with that, have you Fuji-idiot?" she wondered with a hint of irritation in her voice.

Oh God, Michiko, Orihime, and Tatsuki just to add to the mounting headache of Ryosuke. _Women! _"Alright then," Ryosuke said, deciding just to throw in the towel before he inevitably loses it anyway. "Let's go." He didn't miss the bright smile on Orihime's face as he stated that.

Tatsuki smirked as Ryosuke walked off with Orihime clinging to his arm, "Guess I'd better be off too! See ya Ichigo-kun, later Rukia-chan." Tatsuki waved to Rukia and Ichigo.

The oblivious orange haired teen snapped his head to shake off his stupor he fell into when Orihime kissed Ryosuke on his cheek. "So… Are they like… a couple?" The palms connected to Rukia's and Tatsuki's faces told Ichigo he was an idiot. "Hrugh, damn it! I don't pay attention to things like that!" Not that he cared that they were going out, but still it was fucking annoying that people acted like it was as clear as day to see. It wasn't!

Tatsuki shook her head with a bored look on her features. "Whatever Ichigo-kun." She said before pinching Ichigo's cheek, eliciting a tick mark to appear on Ichigo's face. "Wait up you two!" She yelled after the retreating forms of Orihime and Ryosuke. As she chased after them, leaving Ichigo and Rukia, alone!

Ichigo shoved his hands into his pockets, feeling slightly better that Ryosuke was out of his hair, "Damn that kid! You try and do something nice for a guy, and that's how he repays ya!" He spoke idly to himself more than Rukia. "Fuck Ryosuke!"

Rukia looked uncomfortable. "Listen Ichigo…" Rukia began, trying to find the correct words to state how she felt. "I was being insensitive earlier," She caught Ichigo's undivided attention. "I hope you can find it-"

"Don't worry about it," Ichigo coolly cut her off, "It's sort of my fault for being unable to speak about my kaa-chan. You have nothing to blame yourself about. Okay?"

Rukia smiled, "Okay Ichigo. But when you're ready to open up about your kaa-chan, I'll be here to lend an ear to you," And that was all Rukia could hope for. Being there when Ichigo needed her most, she'd do that for him. She'd be his pillar of encouragement, his light in the darkness, his bacon in the fridge when he gets hungry, and the kick that boots him up the backside whenever he's feeling low on confidence.

Ichigo smiled. "Thanks Rukia," Ryosuke and Naruto may not have been his friends, but Rukia sure of hell was! And with that said and done, the half-breed shinigami and the shinigami ventured towards the home of the Kurosaki's, preparing for the next big day.

* * *

**Elsewhere – With Manta**

"Come on. Come on." Manta impatiently tracked back and forth in front of the door as he waited for the person he'd called for to deliver an urgent message to the would-be challengers of Anna-sama's targets. "This is taking so long!" Manta ranted as he gazed intently at the clock hand on his watch that was on his wrist slowly tick by the second. But he knew deep down that it was redundant. "Ah… Jaku-san!"

Jaku Kusanagi, an unnamed, an unheard of shinigami that'd once inhabited the land of the shinobi during his life span. How he died was a mystery. Even know he wasn't the most powerful shinobi he sure of hell had a lot of determination, and his brain was sharp to boot. Of course the different between Chakra and Spiritual Pressure was vast. Not to mention that Jaku had lost his memory along with a blond girl, who he'd arrived with named Yamanaka Ino. His hard work was impressive, considering he lived in the roughest part of the Soul Society, and was forced to repeatedly defend himself from the rough thugs around that distinct of town.

It built character though. And Yoh-sama seemed to admire the man's cheerful spirit. At his current strength, Anna-sama had ranked Jaku at a low D-class, putting him at a 5th seat level, which wasn't too bad, considering he'd been around the Soul Society for a considerable amount of time.

There was only one reason why Manta had stressed his name, and that reason had strolled through the front door of the office owned by the little man himself. Long blue hair falling to her lower back, eyes jade green, and a hand idly resting on her hip, "You needed to see me Manta-san?" she asked politely. She wore a pink jacket, a head band with an Ainu symbol, and a skirt with traditional Ainu markings and snow boots. Under the jacket she wore a tank top that was very low cut.

Manta turned to greet the blue haired girl, looking annoyed. "Yes, I called you thirty minutes ago, Pirika-chan."

Pirika rolled her eyes, "Sorry, Manta-san, I was busy hanging out with Jaku-kun." Now Manta was rolling his eyes, he knew that all along. "So, why'd you call me here for, Manta-san?" she asked sternly as if she were the boss. Her arms crossed over her chest.

Manta sat down on his seat and gestured for Pirika to come over to him. Pirika had to hold in a laugh upon seeing the little man in such a big chair, he was still her boss at the end of the day. "That boy, Ryosuke, has activated one of his Zanpakutos. His spiritual pressure has shot up to a High B-class lieutenant, meaning he'll be able to stand on par and defeat most lieutenants in their Bankai forms in just his Shikai mode."

Pirika's eyes widened, "You've got to be kidding me?" She inquired in a bit of awe and Manta shook his head, signifying he was not joking around. "Ahh," she sighed exasperatedly. "These half human/shinigami half-breeds sure are something else." She said as Manta finished writing a note she'd to deliver to the would-be challengers Anna-sama made him send out to fight and to test the lads' skills.

"Please make sure this gets to Captain-Hitsugaya by morning." Manta ordered and Pirika gave him a toothy grin.

Pirika flashed Manta a thumbs-up, "Right on Manta!" Pirika dashed out of Manta's office with a gleam of determination shining in her eyes. She'd make her brother proud, wherever he was.

Manta sighed before picking up a pen and proceeding to stamp the never-ending amount of paperwork on his desk. "It never ends," Manta whined with a waterfall of tears pouring from his eyes. "Well, hopefully Yoh-sama will give me a day-off to watch the fight between those kids and the Captains!"

"NO TAKING DAY-OFFS! NOW BACK TO WORK BEFORE I COME DOWN THERE AND SHOW YOU A DAY-OFF!"

Manta cringed from Anna's terrorizing voice, "O-f c-course Anna-sama."

* * *

**Urahara Shoten – With Kisuke and Yoruichi **

Thank the lord the kids had gone to bed. That was what Kisuke had thought as the purple haired beauty searched frantically underneath the pillows, the tables, inside of the cupboards, and just about anything with either a handle, or a pair of legs on it. All the while being butt-naked, and with a scowl expression on her face.

The sadistic-Kisuke leisurely sat back in his chair and grinned wide, "What're you looking for, Yoruichi-chan?" He slyly asked as if he hadn't done anything.

Yoruichi stopped searching and sent a playful glare Kisuke's way, "You know what I am looking for, Kisuke-kun." Yoruichi said in a teasing voice, "Don't make me have to grab your nuts until you tell me where my clothes are." She couldn't hold back a laugh when Kisuke squeaked and involuntary held his junk. "You have got my clothes."

"Yoruichi-dear," Kisuke romantically cooed out, "I would never do that. You have my utmost undying word." Kisuke slammed his fist against his heart, "You believe me, right?"

Yoruichi rolled her eyes, "You're so full of crap Kisuke-kun!" she ranted as she picked up a blanket she'd thrown onto the floor in a madding search for her clothes before walking over to a confused Kisuke, "I may of well give you what you want though." She said as she sat on Kisuke's lap and covered them with the blanket she'd gotten, making Kisuke blush furiously, "You're such a pervert!" Yoruichi said with a twitching eyebrow as she rested her head against Kisuke's chest.

She'd phoned Isshin and informed him about the impending danger that loomed around the corner. Whether he forgot remained to be seen. Of course she'd meant to phone Tomoyo. But she wasn't picking up the phone, and when she did, it wasn't her, it was Isshin. And his mind didn't appear to be on the game.

Kisuke couldn't hide the huge perverted grin plastered across his face, "But I'm your pervert," And he was. He'd known Yoruichi even before he'd become a captain of the Gotei thirteen, but then again. "What about Soi-Fon?" He'd remembered Yoruichi teasing Soi-Fon about having a crush on him. Rather that meant anything remained to be seen.

Yoruichi smiled playfully at Kisuke, "Aww, is someone missing little bee."

"Well I was thinking if she was here we could all have a threesome together, you know what I mean?" A shot to the area no man wanted to be hit silenced Kisuke. "Oh shit…" Kisuke choked out as his face strained up as if he had sucked on a lemon.

"Pervert…"

* * *

**The next morning - with Goro **

Today was the day of reckoning. He had met up with his hollow friend and found he was eager to get the chance to finish what he'd started years before. He'd blamed Goro was not allowing him to absorb Ichigo or Masaki's souls after her 'accident'. What was Goro's problem anyway? They were humans at the end of the day. They were nothing more but uncooked meat for the hollows to devour.

"It's time." Goro said as he watched the sun raise over the horizon. "My son will need a day-off from school." Of course. But how would Goro go about getting Ryosuke out of school. "That should be easy." The most sadistic smirk was suddenly on Goro's face as he vanished from his standing spot on a story-high building, having spotted the tool that would allow Ryosuke to skip school.

Meanwhile on the street of Karakura Town, a boy with white spiky hair was wearing the Karakura Middle School uniform and was idly making his way towards school. "I hate living so far away from school." The boy spoke to himself. "Oh well, top student Jun can't really complain."

The boy known as Jun suddenly spotted black fuel in the distance. "Oh shit." Jun started running as fast as he could in order to reach his target before it drove off, "Hold the bus!" He shouted to the people rushing onto the bus.

A man looked at him but then suddenly turned his head to glance upwards the sky. As if he'd heard or saw the sight humming and sparkling of a rocket being launched in the air. And before Jun could get any closer towards his intended target, the bus inexplicably went up in horrendous flames right before his horrified eyes. As Jun fell to the ground, rocked by the heavy explosion caused by the unknown; the people trapped on the bus screamed before they disappeared into the flames.

"W-what?" Jun asked as his sat on the ground shocked and scared at what he'd just saw. "Who would do such a thing?" He reluctantly asked, as if part of him didn't want to know the answer.

Jun flinched upon witnessing static-like movement appear before his eyes, and a man now towered over him. "Hmm, that was meant to kill you too. Little man!" Goro smirked at the frightened boy.

"W-Who are you?" He asked hesitantly as he tried to crawl away from the man, "A-Are you the one who killed those people?"

"Hahaha!" Goro laughed maniacally. "Yes I did, and I enjoyed it too!" He said as he held his hands in front of his himself, and sparks began forming up between Goro's hands, "Any last requests before you die!?"

"You're a monster!" Jun stated as Goro formed a blue arrow in his hands and pointed it at Jun with a sickening look on his face. "Aaaaaah!" Jun realized he was fucked and started sprinting off down the road as fast as he could. "I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"

"DIE!" Goro shouted as he released his arrow at the retreating Jun. The poor boy never stood a chance as the blue arrow pierced his back and sent him on a one way ticket over to the mountain-side. As soon as the arrow made its way to the mountains, a huge epic Dragon ball z-like explosion occurred, sending the birds flocking away, the pebbles bouncing all over the place and the earth itself shaking from the power of Goro.

Goro watched with a gleam in his eye as his steroid arrow dissipated, revealing one mountain had been completely eradicated by his power alone. And a huge smoking crater was left in place of the mountain and Jun.

"Excellent!"

* * *

**And that ends chapter 15. Please leave a review, it helps to keep me motivated.**


	16. You Ready For A Real Fight?

**Disclaimer: I don't know Naruto or Bleach **

**This time: Naruto vs. Toshiro**

* * *

**Chapter 16**

**You Ready For A Real Fight?**

The sun light penetrated the room of Ryosuke, and bathed the sleeping duo of the rude-boy and bubbly girl in all its glory. And as the newly named Fuji awoke from his slumber, simultaneously rubbing his eye to try and get the sleep out, he turned his head to look over at the sleeping orange haired girl that'd slept right next to him, while her friend Tatsuki slept on a futon that was next to Ryosuke's bed.

"Orihime…" Ryosuke whispered, so he wouldn't wake the beauty sleeping soundly next to him. He realized he was quite the lucky boy to have had such a beautiful girl with such enormous breasts lying in bed next to him. "Ahh… might as well get some morning exercise in." Ryosuke spoke idly to himself. As he slid over to the side of his bed and prepared to stand up…

"Ryo-kun," Orihime's quiet words made Ryosuke turn his head back to her with a look of astonishment on his face, as he hadn't expected her to be awake yet, "Don't…" Her eyes were shut, but her lips were slowly moving, letting out faint but clear words that Ryosuke could hear.

Ryosuke smiled. "Sleep talking," He concluded as Orihime fidgeted and tussled in his bed, her face straining up, and her eyes clenching with each turn she made. "Okay," Ryosuke unzipped his black kung-fu jacket, as he and Orihime had slept fully clothed, and calmly put his jacket in between Orihime's arms. He watched fondly as Orihime eased up, and drifted peacefully to a relax slumber.

Ryosuke glanced at Tatsuki sleeping on a spare futon his mother had kept beneath his bed, before calmly sitting leg-crossed on the floor in front of the window with a straightforward look on his face.

'I've got to learn how to channel my spirit power while in base form,' Ryosuke thought as he steadied his breathing, allowing the calmness of the air to flow around him. Even the morning cuckoo couldn't disturb him as a faint green aura surfaced around his entire body. 'My other aura still won't come out unless I'm in my shinigami form. Is this because I only know one of my Zanpakutos' names?'

That did make sense to Ryosuke. It surprised him how powerful his own spirit energy went up as soon as he discovered the name of his Zanpakuto; he was surely stronger than Ichigo now, but still weaker than Naruto, which of course left more to be desired for Ryosuke. One of his main goals was to surpass that clown Uzumaki, not that orange-headed lanky bastard Ichigo.

It made it harder to concentrate thinking about Uzumaki, laughing smugly in the dark teen's face, because he'd the most power out of the three of them. Fuck! And the fact that Naruto had every right to gloat considering he'd defeated Bobomaru only left Ryosuke more exasperated.

And the twitching eyebrow didn't help to calm Ryosuke's nerves neither, "What is it?" It was the knocking of the door that left Ryosuke pissed, because he'd wanted to be left in silence so he could meditate before Orihime awoke.

The brown door leading to Ryosuke's room cracked open, and in walked the green hair, and ruby-eyed Michiko, dressed in a red blouse, blue trousers, and simple red sandals on her feet. A cigarette rested idly in her mouth as she looked at Orihime before flashing a grin that annoyed the hell out of her taller son. "I see someone's having fun in here," she exclaimed sarcastically.

Ryosuke's eye twitched, "What the hell do you want kaa-chan? Can't you see I'm busy trying to train?" He spoke, demandingly. He would've yelled but he didn't want to wake Orihime and/or Tatsuki up.

A hand rested on Michiko's hip as she inhaled tobacco smoke before exhaling again, "I need you to go to the shop for me, son." She couldn't keep the grin off of her face when Ryosuke called her kaa-chan. Maybe Orihime being around him was a blissing in disguise. It made Michiko think back to just last night when Ryosuke had returned home with the girls by his sides.

* * *

**Flashback – last night**

_Michiko calmly sat on her couch, with her right leg gracefully crossed over the other, and a bored look on her features as she waited for her son's return with his two 'guests'. Well, at least this way she could finally meet Orihime. How long had it been since Ryosuke met her, three weeks, or so? _

"_Stubborn kid," Michiko commented as the house was sparkling clean for once, because she'd wanted to make a good impression on the girl that'd supposedly captured Ryosuke's heart. It remained to be seen though._

_As the credits began to roll of one of her favorite shows, Michiko could hear the angry voice of her son coming from the direction of outside. "Hold up Tatsuki! Let me open up the door first! Honestly, I don't see why you are even here in the first place!" Yep, that was definitely her son's voice alright._

"_Tatsuki, huh?" Michiko commented to herself with a sly look on her face just as the door to her home opened up, revealing the tall figure of her son, an orange haired girl with enormous breasts, and a slender, slim, black spiky haired girl. Michiko guessed that the black haired girl must've been Tatsuki because she was arguing with Ryosuke._

"_Well you're the one that wouldn't let us walk you home Fuji-idiot!" The black haired girl shouted back__. Idiot, huh?__ Not a lot of people spoke to her son like that, and it honestly made Michiko respect the girl all the more. It was the truth at the end of the day._

_The orange haired girl looked around the house in awe, "Whoa Ryo-kun! Your home is so clean!" _

_Admittedly it was very clean, almost too clean for Ryosuke's liking, "I know. I wonder what came over my kaa-chan. It's not usually like her to be this clean."_

"_Can't a mother just want her house to be clean for her son's arrival from hospital," the sound of a smooth voice got Ryosuke, Orihime, and Tatsuki to shift their eyes in that direction, "Right, Ryo-san?" the smug Michiko appeared from around the corner with her arms folded over her chest._

_Ryosuke narrowed his eyes, "Don't give me that shit!" Tatsuki was shaking with furious rage the way Ryosuke was speaking towards the lady that'd given birth to him, "You're just a waste of m_

"_**Arisawa's relentless assault, ten fists of tigers!"**_

_Ryosuke found his back nailed with an unbelievable amount of multiple fist attacks from the fuming Karate girl, who'd became fed up with the way Ryosuke was acting towards his own kaa-chan, "Aaaaaaaaah!" Ryosuke screamed belligerently and with a painstakingly expression on his face as he threw his arms to the side and hit the ground with a heavy thud. "Damn it!" Ryosuke turned to scowl at the glaring black haired girl panting a bit heavily while still in her stance. "Don't you have any honour!? You can't attack a man from behind, woman!" _

_But Tatsuki wasn't having any of that and showed that by reaching down and grabbing a hold of Ryosuke's shirt, "And don't you have any manners Ryosuke-idiot!" She shouted ferociously as she slapped Ryosuke across his face, forcing his head to the side. "Don't you ever speak to your kaa-san like that again!" If Orihime weren't going to scold Ryosuke for his behaviour, then it was up to Tatsuki as her best friend to do so, "Ugh!" she glared down at Ryosuke before slamming him to the ground._

_Michiko stood, blinking, astounded that the black haired girl could put her son down like that without him retaliating. Is that how they always acted? Maybe Michiko's spiritual awareness wasn't as sharp as she thought it was. The orange haired girl didn't seem to mind too much, because she gave the soaking Ryosuke a sympathetic pat on his back before jogging over to the green haired woman with her arms behind her back. _

"_Hi!" Orihime greeted Michiko, smiling. Michiko snapped her head, knocking herself out of a daze she fell into. "I'm Inoue Orihime! It's a pleasure to meet you, um…" She wasn't quite sure if she should call Michiko, Kagoshima-san. Not after what the man had done to Ryo-kun. And Ryo-kun himself didn't desire to be called Kagoshima-kun anymore._

"_Namiki Michiko," Michiko introduced herself to the orange haired girl. "It's my maiden name." It left more to be desired why Ryo-kun was calling himself Fuji Ryosuke. But Orihime would ask about that later. "It's nice to meet you Orihime-chan. I take it you must be really fond of Ryosuke seeing as you couldn't leave him be."_

_Orihime blushed, "Well… yeah! I really like your son Namiki-chan!" Orihime had no shame about her crush on Ryosuke, and stated so proudly, "I couldn't leave him to walk home by himself, not after he was attacked. He might've tripped and fell on unconscious."_

_Michiko laughed light-heartedly. Orihime really did care for her son. It made her wonder how a miserable, unsocial boy like Ryosuke could score a girl like Orihime, who looked fifteen, judging by the school uniform she was wearing. That was the high school uniform, not the middle school one. "It's nice to know Ryo-san has someone sweet and adorable looking after him."_

_Orihime blushed a darker shade of red, "Oh no, you've got it all wrong. Ryo-kun looks after me all the time. He saved me twice in one day. He's my hero!"_

"_So modest too!" Michiko looked at Ryosuke who was mumbling something about 'pushy women'. "Wouldn't you agree that you have a sweet girl, Ryo-kun?" she asked in a teasing voice._

_Ryosuke couldn't stop the blush that appeared on his face, and crossed his arms over his chest, before turning away from his kaa-chan. _

"_Seriously," Tatsuki said in a deadpanned tone before pinching Ryosuke's cheek, "Stop being shy Ryosuke-idiot. Orihime isn't! And she's hooked up with a boy three younger than her. LIGHTEN UP!" Tatsuki bashed Ryosuke over his head with her fist._

"_Whatever," Ryosuke replied impassively. As he ignored the throbbing pain on his head and stood up to his feet. "I'm going to bed." He shoved his hands into his pockets and began ascending the stairs up to his room._

_Orihime stretched out her own arms, "I'm tired too, I guess I'll follow Ryo-kun up to his room, and-"she paused when she realized what she was about to say. "And um…" she suddenly felt nervous about the prospect of sharing a bed with Ryosuke. _

"_Are you coming Orihime?" Ryosuke's voice came from upstairs. "It's fine, come on. My kaa-chan won't mind. Let's just go to sleep."_

_Orihime looked at Michiko with a pleading look in her eyes, eliciting a smile out of Michiko. "What kind of mother would I be if I said no? Of course you can sleep in the same bed with Ryo-san. You are his mate after all!"_

_A bright grew across Orihime's face before she energetically clapped her hands together, "That's right!" She admitted proudly. "I'm coming Ryo-kun!" she said as she sprinted off towards Ryosuke's room, leaving Tatsuki sweat dropping._

"_That girl," Tatsuki sighed as she rubbed the back of her head exasperatedly. She still couldn't help but smile fondly of the two though, and either could Ryosuke's kaa-chan. "Thanks for letting us stay here, Namiki-chan. We couldn't let Ryosuke walk home by himself. What with that head wound and all."_

"_It's no problem at all." Michiko brushed off her thanks with the flick of her hand. "I can tell you really care for Ryosuke just like Orihime-chan does."_

"_Not in the way she does." Tatsuki deadpanned in return. "But he is like a little brother to me." Tatsuki suddenly clenched her fists tight at her side. "A little brother I've never beaten but that's beside the point." _

_Michiko blinked a couple of times, shocked that the powerful girl hadn't beaten her son yet. She displayed enough strength to be able to scold the boy though. "That's quite alright… um."_

"_Tatsuki… Arisawa Tatsuki." Tatsuki quickly introduced herself with a bow of respect. "Well anyway, I was wondering if you could tell me why Ryosuke's father would attack him like that?"_

_Tatsuki could feel the air around Michiko stiffen up considerably, as a look of hurt was plastered on her face. "I'm not sure if I'm ready to tell anyone that." Michiko admitted as tears formed up in her eyes. _

_Tatsuki realized she'd said something horribly wrong and rushed over to hug Michiko. "Oh… I'm sorry. You don't have to tell me. I was just really concerned for Ryosuke-idiot." And she was. But she mentally cursed herself for calling Ryosuke an idiot in front of his mother. _

"_No, it quite alright," Michiko assured as she escaped Tatsuki's hold and began to ascend the stairs of her house, with Tatsuki trailing by her side. "I can tell you everything tomorrow if you're interested?" _

_Tatsuki trailed behind Michiko on the stairs, "That's okay, but only if you want to tell me. I don't want to make you feel like I'm taking advantage of you."_

_A laugh came from the lips of Michiko as she and Tatsuki reached the first floor of her house. "No, it's no problem at all. I'm just a bit tired as all." It showed on her facial features. The bags under her eyes as prove, she must've been really stressed upon finding out her son was in the hospital. She must've known it was his father that'd did that to him. _

_Tatsuki and Michiko reached a door with a sign on it. The sign read 'keep out kaa-chan.' Tatsuki rolled her eyes, knowing that the door belonged to Ryosuke instantaneously. Michiko pushed the door open and gestured for Tatsuki to go on in. "You can sleep in here for tonight."_

_Tatsuki and Michiko found it impossible to keep the smiles off of their faces upon seeing a passed out Ryosuke and Orihime cuddled next to each other on Ryosuke's bed underneath the sheets. The happy smile on Orihime's face as she rested on Ryosuke's chest underneath his right arm warmed Michiko and Tatsuki's hearts. _

"_Orihime… Ryosuke-idiot…" Tatsuki whispered softly, as she stared at the sleeping duo lying peacefully next to each other. "They look so happy…" Even know Ryosuke had his huge mouth open and was consistently drooling, it didn't make the scene any less beautiful._

"_They make a wonderful couple." Michiko injected as she smiled blessedly at Orihime and Ryosuke's sleeping forms. Tatsuki nodded with a smile on her face as Michiko walked over to Ryosuke's bed, kneeled down, and pulled out a futon from underneath it. "You can use this to sleep on, Tatsuki-chan."_

"_Thanks Namiki-chan." Tatsuki said before rubbing Michiko's back consolably. "When you're ready to talk about Ryosuke-id… I mean Ryosuke's father, I'll be here to lend you an ear."_

_Michiko chuckled. "No need to be formal around me. I considered you a very close friend of Ryosuke's, someone who can scold him whenever he's messing around. You are his onee-chan."_

_Tatsuki's cheeks lightened up before she lay her body down on the futon Michiko had spread out for her, "Thank you, Namiki-chan. I'll do my best to look after Ryosuke-idiot." She felt more comfortable about calling Ryosuke an idiot in front of his kaa-chan._

_Michiko smiled and left the room, letting them be for the night._

* * *

_**End of flashback**_

"Oi, kaa-chan, what the fuck do you want from the shop?"

Ryosuke was suddenly dressed and up close and personal in his mother's face. Michiko blinked a couple of times; she hadn't realized she had been drifting off. "Oh yes, I need a pack of cigarettes, Ryo-san!"

Ryosuke fixed his collar and scowled at his mother, "I've got school you know. Fuck! Can't you go yourself!?"

Michiko gave Ryosuke a sad look. "School won't be open today, son." Ryosuke gave her a puzzled look at the melancholy evident on her face and in her voice. "The school phoned not too long ago." She began, a few tears forming up in her eyes. "Jun… Jun's dead!"

Ryosuke's eyes widened. "Jun… Do you mean Iwao Jun?" Because there were two Jun's in school. One was a jerk that hated him and Naruto, and the other one was a cool kid that didn't mind Naruto or Ryosuke. The look on his mother's face told Ryosuke it was the latter, and that saddened him. "Fuck!" Jun was a good kid, he didn't deserve death. "How'd this happen?" He was a kind boy; he never got in any fights like him or Naruto. "Jun…" Ryosuke clenched his fists tight at his sides.

Jun must've been murdered… somehow.

Orihime began to stir, "Hmm." She sat up and rubbed her eye, after looking at the side of her and realizing Ryosuke wasn't lying next to her, she looked straight ahead to find her Ryo-kun standing next to his kaa-chan. "Ryo-kun!" Orihime happily yelled, but Ryosuke did not respond. "Ryo-kun…?" Orihime said more softly and with concern coloring her voice.

"His friend has died." Horror was written all over Orihime's face when Michiko told her that in a dejected tone.

"Oh no." Orihime jumped out of bed and ran over to Ryosuke. "Ryo-kun!" Orihime wrapped her arms consolably around Ryosuke's back and buried her face into his back. "I'm so sorry Ryo-kun! I didn't know you were suffering inside, you must be!" she cried into his back.

"I'm fine." Ryosuke replied in an impassive tone of voice. He turned to face a teary-eyed Orihime before wiping her tears away with his thumb. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I just need some time alone." He said as he picked up a green pill he'd placed on the side before falling asleep, a ninja teddy-bear, and strolled towards the door.

Okay… So maybe he needed for some… guy talk, if he could call it a man that was?

"Ryo-kun, where are you going?" Orihime asked, trying to hold back her tears as she reached out to grab Ryosuke's hand.

"I'm just going to pick up something for my mom. Won't be a sec. Okay," Ryosuke exclaimed in a frighteningly calm tone of voice. And Michiko just stood, blinking, before an expectant look from Ryosuke snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Oh yeah-" Michiko pulled out some money and handled it to Ryosuke. "-You know what I want, don't you Ryo-san?" Michiko asked.

Ryosuke took the money from his mom and placed it in his pocket. "Okay, cool." He placed up the ninja teddy bear in his back pocket. "Don't cry Orihime. I promise, I'll be alright," he assured to the orange haired girl holding her hands together.

It left his kaa-chan bewildered why he would feel the need to take a teddy bear with him.

"Okay Ryo-kun… I'll be right here waiting for your return." Orihime responded, wiping her tears away.

"That's my girl." Ryosuke tried to smile but instead it came off as a smirk seeing a bright pink blush adorning Orihime's cheeks. 'I guess I'll talk to Kon while I'm out.' Ryosuke thought, holding onto the green pill even tighter before moving out of the room, and soon after out of his mother's house.

"Oh Ryo-kun…" Orihime whimpered. "Please be okay."

* * *

**Tomoyo's house – With Naruto, Karin, Yuzu**

The blond-wolf boy couldn't be happier. He had two hot twins to himself. And he had slept with them on the same bed. Not even the kamis themselves could dampen Naruto's spirits, and as the curtains opened up, making the sun light hit his face as it did, Naruto slowly opened his eyes to find Yuzu and Karin already awake, still dressed in their uniforms, and with sad smiles on their pretty faces.

"What's wrong girls?" Naruto asked as he sat up on his bed and rubbed his eye. He took note of the fact that Yuichi wasn't on his bed, and a note was on Yuzu's lap. "What happened?"

"Naruto-kun," Yuzu cried slightly, "We have to go visit our mommy's grave today."

"Then we'll go together." It was simple, right? Naruto would never let them face their nightmares alone. He wouldn't be a good man to them if he did now.

Karin felt the need to inject. "Naruto… I don't think you understand. We've always visited our kaa-san's grave together, as a family. I think it would be better if we went there alone."

Naruto inhaled and exhaled a breath he was keeping in, "No can do, Karin-chan." He stated simply, surprising Karin and Yuzu. "You girls are precious to me. I can't leave you two to face this by yourself. I'm sorry, but I can't."

"But Naruto-kun, you won't understand. Onii-chan will get mad if you come. He's always been sensitive. And he has always blamed himself for our mommy's death. He'll get mad if you come along." Yuzu stated sadly.

"Ichigo can get mad all he wants!" Naruto snapped, making Karin and Yuzu take a short involuntary move back. "You're my girls! And I promised myself that I would take care of you two from the day I met you two! I can't let you two go through with this by yourselves… because-"Naruto breathed easy before taking hold of Karin and Yuzu's hands, making them blush.

"-I know I'm a part of this family. I would do anything for you girls; I know you two would do the same for me." He looked fondly into the stunned flush girls' faces. "…I'll bear the burden of your sadness, and we'll all die together."

Karin and Yuzu's eyes widened as they stared into the blond-wolf boy's eyes filled with all the resolve and determination of someone that was never going to go back on his word, no matter what. "Naruto…" Karin and Yuzu said softly before the urge became too great and they tackled Naruto to the bed, planting kisses on each of his cheeks.

"You're so stubborn, idiot." Karin exclaimed as she rubbed her face against Naruto's left cheek, mimicked by Yuzu.

"I know." Naruto grinned in response. "So, should we get going then, my ladies?"

Yuzu blushed before sitting back up onto her knees, like Karin. "Yep, daddy left a note saying he's already gone ahead with onii-chan. But he came back while we were sleeping to drop off some clothes for me and Karin-chan."

"Okay then!" Naruto yelled as he jumped off of his bed energetically. "It's time for us to take a bath together," He expertly and swiftly held his nose before blood leaked out of it.

Karin bought his hopes crashing down, "Don't get ahead of yourself, Naruto," Karin stated flatly as she and Yuzu climbed off of Naruto's bed. "You're not that far ahead yet. So Yuzu and I will be taking a bath first, and you'll go in after us."

"What?" Naruto wondered indignantly. "Come on. Don't leave a man out. I thought we loved each other, believe it. Come on. Come on. You can't take a bath without your blond knuckleheaded friend." He pleaded on his hands and knees. He needed this.

Yuzu sighed before she elaborated for Naruto's comprehend. "Naruto-kun, Karin-chan and I are still getting used to the idea of sharing a boyfriend." She admitted.

"And you have to take a bath without me to get used to the idea of having me as your boyfriend?" Naruto inquired curiosity.

"It's a start, Naruto." Karin stated in a deadpanned tone and Naruto sighed in a defeated voice. "Come on Yuzu-chan; let's go take a bath now."

Yuzu blushed. She hadn't taken a wash with her sister since she was a baby. But seeing as she was sharing a boyfriend with her, she may of well share a wash with her too. "Okay Karin-chan." She gave the soaking Naruto a hug before skipping out of the room and into the bathroom with Karin by her side.

"What a bumper," Naruto had a waterfall of tears pouring from his eyes. "I want to take a bath too." The sound of Naruto's stomach growling shifted his thoughts to something else. "And now I'm hungry and sad."

He peeked up when Yuzu poked her pretty face around the corner, "Oh, and Naruto-kun, you have a ton of homework to finish in my bag." That brought his hopes back down to earth again. "I meant to tell you last night but I forgot. Miss Riko said you have to do it. Okay?" she asked before skipping into the bathroom.

Naruto paled, "Fuck school!"

With that, he walked out of his room and down the stairs and into the living room, where he saw Yuichi sitting on the couch watching cartoons. "Hey bro,"

He startled Yuichi because the little boy jumped up a bit before turning around and leaning over the seat. "Hey nii-chan, you were really holding Yuzu and Karin tight when you were all sleeping together." It startled him to see how tight Naruto was holding Yuzu and Karin.

Naruto blushed, before ruffing his brother's hair, "They're your onee-chans, (older sisters), so make sure to treat them with the same respect you do me, alright?"

Yuichi turned around to watch bug bunny, "Big kids are weird nii-chan. But I'll love Karin-oneechan and Yuzu-oneechan just as much as I love you nii-chan."

"Atta boy!" Naruto complimented as he strolled into the kitchen to greet his grandma Tomoyo, "Yo, grandma! What you got cooking up for me? I'm serving, believe it!"

Tomoyo turned around and engulfed her grandson in a tight hug that made him gag for air, "My little Naruto's growing up so fast. I saw you holding onto Yuzu-chan and Karin-chan for dear life as you slept. You all looked so cute; I'd to take a picture." Naruto's face darkened with a crimson red blush, and Tomoyo giggled.

"Grandma!" Naruto responded, looking sheepish. "You're embarrassing me, believe it!"

Tomoyo laughed, "Kids these days." She said fondly before turning gravely serious. "Do you know what day it is today?"

Naruto's eye narrowed. "Yeah, it's the day Yuzu-chan, Karin-chan, and Strawberry usually visit their kaa-chan's grave." Tomoyo had to hold in a laugh when Naruto referred to Ichigo as 'Strawberry'. "Well I'll be going with them for moral support. I can't leave Yuzu-chan and Karin-chan to tend to this by themselves now, believe it!"

Tomoyo smiled sweetly, "You'll make a fine husband to Karin-chan and Yuzu-chan someday."

Naruto blushed, "Grandma Tomoyo, we're not that far ahead yet! We only just got together last night. And they won't let me take a…FUCKING BATH WITH THEM!" He felt the need to belligerently shout out the last few words.

Unfortunately for Naruto, Tomoyo didn't find his use of language very constructive for Yuichi, "Mind your language young man!" she screamed angrily as she bashed Naruto on top of his head, eliciting a scream of pain from her grandson.

"Ow!"

* * *

**Bathroom – With Karin and Yuzu**

Nerves were certainly getting to Yuzu, but who could blame her? She was taking a bath with her sister for the first time in like, forever! Admittedly the bath tub was very nice. Fit for at least three people. Square-shaped with the edges colored in brown to match the walls, and a few kanji designs going alongside the bath, meaning water.

"I feel kind of weird Karin-chan." Yuzu admitted as she sat back faced to her sister Karin, allowing Karin to clean her back for her. "It must've been ten years since we last took a bath together."

"It still no weirder than sharing a boyfriend who looks like a wolf," Karin stated flatly as she began to clean Yuzu's hair for her, and Yuzu blushed heavily. Karin was right; they were sharing a crazy boyfriend with power capable of wiping out the city. At least that was what Karin had picked up from Naruto's energy signature.

Karin continued to sit in the bath naked with her twin sister Yuzu, rubbing her hands as gently as she could through her sister's hair, putting some more shampoo on her head and then running the warm water from the shower head just above the wall over Yuzu's hair.

Yuzu felt a sense of relaxation as the shampoo ran down her body. She tilted her head upwards, and allowed the water to pour from her chin, and over the back of her hair, with Karin making sure all of the shampoo was out of her hair.

Eventually Karin switched off the shower and pulled out the plug underneath the water, permitting the water to drain out of the bathtub. "Come sis, let's go get dress now." Karin suggested, standing up from her sitting position within the bathtub. Yuzu had already washed and cleaned Karin's back and hair before Karin done hers.

Yuzu stood up and faced her twin sister, "Okay Karin-chan. We need to go see mommy today." Yuzu replied sadly as Karin handled Yuzu a towel and she wrapped it around her wrist. Their boobs were yet to develop but they had decent size b-cups, and two nice bodies for Naruto to feel up. Not to mention those legs of theirs. Naruto would enjoy licking them.

Karin tapped her sister on her shoulder, making Yuzu look up to see a smile on Karin's face, "Hey, don't be sad Yuzu-chan. You know what that idiot Naruto would say, 'don't cry or I won't be able to eat ramen for a week'. Hehe that fool," Karin giggled at her attempt to mimic Naruto's voice.

Yuzu returned the smile with one of her own, "You're right Karin-chan. Our Naruto-kun wouldn't want me feeling down now. Let's go." She concluded as she opened up the door and began ascending towards Naruto's room.

"Atta girl," Karin commented as she followed Yuzu into Naruto's room.

After five minutes later, Karin and Yuzu wandered downstairs in their own attires. For Yuzu, she wore a yellow dress with a hood on the back, and brown sandals on her feet. And for Karin, she wore a black t shirt with red sleeves, black shorts that reached just passed her knees, and sneakers on her feet.

Yuzu saw Yuichi sitting on the couch in front of the T.V watching cartoons, "Hi Yuichi-chan." Yuzu greeted the little brother of Naruto.

Yuichi turned around and smiled widely at his two new sisters, "Hi onee-chan, and hello nee-chan." He happily waved to both Yuzu and Karin, who'd both blushed unintentionally at being called the boy's older sisters. "Nii-chan said you're both my new onee-chans, so I'm going to love you two just like I love my nii-chan."

"Aww," Yuzu cooed out as she rubbed Yuichi's cheek, eliciting a blush to appear on the boy's cheeks. "We love you too, otouto (little brother)." Yuzu lovingly responded and Karin nodded in agreement.

Naruto heard his girls in the living room and rushed out to greet them, "Yuzu-dear, Karin-dear," In his joy he wrapped his arms around Karin and Yuzu faster than the eye could blink, and implanted two kisses on their cheeks, eliciting a "ewww" out of Yuichi. "You'll love kissing girls too, Yuichi-otouto."

The little boy stubbornly crossed his arms over his chest and turned away from his onii-chan with a 'huff'. "No." Yuichi said firmly, as he went back to watching cartoons on the television.

Naruto laughed wholeheartedly before addressing his twin girlfriends, "You girls look great by the way." They sure did. Naruto felt like the luckiest boy on the planet just for the chance to be with them.

Karin smiled pleasantly, "Thank you Naruto." She watched with a dull look on her pretty face as Naruto's face beamed with delight. "Even know we aren't going anywhere special." Karin whispered under breath, her smile straining at that point.

Yuichi held his finger near his mouth and made a plucking sound as Tomoyo stood watch with a smile on her old face as Naruto held his two arms out to Karin and Yuzu. "Are you already to go, Yuzu-dear, Karin-dear?"

Yuzu wrapped her arms around Naruto's left arm and leaned her head against Naruto's arm, mimicked by Karin on the other side. "Of course, Naruto-kun," Yuzu dreamily smiled and Karin just rested her eyes as they all made their way towards the door, where Naruto slipped on his sandals, and eventually they left to head to Masaki's grave.

* * *

**Elsewhere/Forest – With Toshiro, Rangiku, Ikkaku**

Morning couldn't come fast enough for the shinigamis, especially Ikkaku, who was most eager to kick the shit out of Ryosuke, and proved to Anna-sama it was a waste of time even sending them out to assess their skills. After all, he was from the 11th squad under Captain-Zaraki, the greatest captain a man could ask for. Ikkaku would make Kenpachi proud. He would serve and die under Zaraki Kenpachi.

"Alright," Ikkaku smirked. "Let's go kick some wannabe shinigami asses!"

"Someone's in an awful rush." Rangiku teased playfully, eliciting a scowl out of Ikkaku, "Remember what Manta-kun said, we mustn't take these lot too lightly, let's get the job done, and then celebrate after." She concluded as she stretched out her arms and legs, sleeping on the floor for the night was most uncomfortable.

"Of course," Ikkaku replied with a roll of his eyes. "You can say I'm just eager for the fight. And from what I've heard of this Ryosuke-kid, he'll be eager for the fight as well.

Ignoring Rangiku, who was pouting, Toshiro placed his finger on his chin, taking on an intelligent look. "So we all know the plan. I'll be taking on Uzumaki Naruto. Ikkaku takes on Kagoshima Ryosuke. And loudmouth here will be taking on Kurosaki Ichigo."

Rangiku would've pouted if not for the Senkaimon that'd inexplicably appeared from up in the sky. They all had looks of curiosity upon seeing who'd strolled out of the Senkaimon. "Hello." Pirika greeted with a big smile on her face.

Toshiro raised an eyebrow, "What are you doing here, Pirika-san?"

"Ah, Toshiro-san!" She greeted, making a tick mark appear on Toshiro's head. "Manta-san sent me here to deliver this message to you." She held out an envelope with said message in it.

Rangiku had a look of curiosity on her face as she took the envelope from Pirika. "I wonder what it could be." She ripped open the envelope. Her eyes drifted down the latter, and her eyes soon widened after she'd finished reading it. "No way…"

Toshiro's eyebrow rose, "What is it Matsumoto?" he asked belligerently, trying to forget the fact that Pirika called him Toshiro instead of Captain-Hitsugaya. Bitch had no respect for his power and authority.

Rangiku was shaking, and the sweat slowly dropped off of her face, "It can't be." She murmured as she took an involuntary step back. "That kid… that was once Kagoshima Ryosuke is now Fuji Ryosuke… and he's stronger than me now?" Ikkaku's eyebrow rose in fasciation. "…He has now been ranked as a High B-class Lieutenant."

Toshiro's eyes widened. "What? Is that true?" He inquired and Pirika gave a firm nod. "Did he master the Bankai?" Only those who'd mastered the Bankai form were considered High B, Low A, or High A-class shinigamis depending on how strong their spiritual pressure was. A shake of the head from Pirika made Toshiro's eyes widen even more, "…Unbelievable."

"Hang on. It says on the latter that Ryosuke has only unlocked one of his shikais." Rangiku could hear Toshiro gasp and Ikkaku chuckle with excitement. "If he's unlocks his other Zanpakuto, there's no telling how strong he'll become!"

"Exactly!" Pirika commented. "Ikkaku-san must be on his guard!"

By now Ikkaku couldn't take it anymore. He held his palm on his head and threw it back, laughing exaggeratedly as he did so. "This is great! And here I was thinking this mission would've been boring! I can't wait to fight this kid now!" He hoisted his Zanpakuto onto his shoulder. "Just let me at him. I'll tear him apart!"

Pirika gave Ikkaku a blank stare, "Easy boy."

"Thank you for this information, Pirika-san. It has been most helpful." Toshiro said. And Pirika bowed before she opened up the Senkaimon and disappeared into it. "Okay… this changes everything. Are you sure you can handle this boy, Ikkaku?"

Ikkaku smirked. "Of course Captain!" Ikkaku looked like a kid who'd just received his pocket money and was in the candy store buying some sweets. "Can I go looking for him now, sir?"

Toshiro let out an exasperated sigh before he reached into his pocket and took out two small scouters, and threw one of each to Rangiku and Ikkaku. "Used these to scout the lads out," Toshiro elaborated as he reached into his pocket again and pulled out another scouter before placing it over his left eye. "It goes over your eye, and it'll help you locate strong reiatsu signatures a lot easier."

Rangiku put the scouter over her left eye and posed gracefully, "It's fashionable." She said sweetly before pressing a green button that was on top of the scouter. A few numbers flashed before her eyes. "Holy shit… This boy's spiritual pressure is incredible!"

Ikkaku smirked as his scouter settled on number 1221. "It's over 1000! Excellent! I can't wait to fight this kid! I'm so eager now." From the astounded look on Toshiro's face, he could tell the captain had the biggest challenge to face. "Captain?" Toshiro was struck in a stupor. "What is it?"

"How strong is Uzumaki?" Rangiku asked as she tapped her captain on his shoulder, snapping him out of his stupor.

"It's nothing." Toshiro lied. "Best of luck you two. And remember, don't fail." Ikkaku and Rangiku saluted him before Toshiro and Ikkaku disappeared via flash-step, leaving Rangiku to run off towards town on foot alone.

* * *

**The woods – with Ogre**

The sizzling sounds of a grizzly bear being roasted in front of the purple haired demon echoed throughout the steep woods, and made the flying creatures flock their wings and fly away, all the way, further away from the demon-man that might've eradicated them just for being near his presence.

"Grrrr," Ogre growled as he snapped his fingers and the purple fire that he'd used to ignite the bear to its fiery death instantaneously died down. "It's so boring." Ogre said in a bored tone. "I've been here almost a week now, or something." Ogre was never the best at maths. "It's beside the point though. I. need. Action." Ogre continued, slowly his words down, and pronouncing them with every breath he took.

That bitch hollow, whatever his name was again, did not satisfy the warrior spirit within Susumu Ogre. He still craved for a challenge; he yearned for it, and the excitement of the fight he hadn't felt since the last time he took on Zaraki…

Ah… Now there was a name that'd intrigued Ogre the moment it was thought in his head as he began to chew on the roasted bear he'd eradicated. _Zaraki__-san!_ Him and Ogre had a hell of a lot of fights when they were just kids. It usually resulted in Zaraki winning most of those fights, if not all of them.

That was a bitch on Ogre's pride.

It pained Ogre even more when Zaraki started weakening himself to compensate for Ogre's weakness. Whether he'd intentionally or subconsciously meant to weaken himself so the fight between him and Ogre wouldn't be a one sided slug fest in favour of Zaraki remained to be seen.

It exasperated the fuck out of Ogre, who'd eventually lost the will to fight because of that. And it was also why he'd ended up in the Demon-World as punishment, but we won't go there now…More on that later.

Ogre swallowed a piece of the bear's stomach before wondering out loud, "Why Zaraki-san?" Ogre wondered to himself, keeping his face impassive. "Why'd you weaken yourself just to fight me, and that woman, Urohana?"

Urohana Retsu! A High A-class Captain of Gotei 13 royal court guard squads, and a long standing rival of Ogre. She'd once been reviled as a demon that mercilessly went around killing anyone who dared to get in her way. There was only one man (or boy at the time. If one wanted to be a dick about it), that could challenge Urohana. And that man was Ogre.

She could not subdue him no matter hard she tried. And it only got worst once the most powerful boy she'd ever lay eyes on, idly sitting on top of a bloody mountain made up of dead bodies. Zaraki! And he eradicated her a million times over. Or at least he would've if not for the fact he'd weakened himself to make the fight more enjoyable, as he'd done with Ogre.

Crazy man if there ever were one.

Ogre would've pondered the reason why Zaraki now known as Zaraki Kenpachi weakened himself if a familiar black haired man hadn't appeared in his sight. "Grrrr," Ogre groaned in annoyance that the Quincy before him.

"Is that anyway to speak to your saviour?" The sarcastic Goro taunted the purple haired demon.

"You didn't save me. I was… let out. Free of charge." Ogre retaliated.

Goro chuckled, "Sure, whatever Ogre." Ogre remained silent, even as Goro reached down and grabbed a piece of his bear-meat before sitting on a log opposite to the one Ogre was sitting on. "You haven't met your sister yet. Have you? I must admit, she's a real beauty If I do say so myself." The sadistic look gleamed in his eye.

Killing intent radiating off of Ogre, "Touch Rukia and you die. See Rukia and you die. Think about Rukia and you die. Dream about Rukia and you die." Ogre's muscles tensed up and the veins popped out of his arms as he stared lifelessly into Goro's eyes.

'Heh. I like that look in his eyes. So lifeless… but even still… there's a sense of overprotectiveness and love for his sister Rukia." Quickly and sharply, Goro moved his head to the side, only just about avoiding a sharp red-line fired out of the tip of Ogre's smoking index finger, "Someone means busy," Goro taunted.

"Don't touch… Rukia-"

"Yeah, yeah," Goro replied as if he'd heard that a million times already, and it just didn't bother him. "I'm not here to bother your little sister." He took some joy at the look of bewilderment on Ogre's face. "I'm here to offer you the chance to fight."

Ogre looked sceptical. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

Goro smirked. "That boy, Naruto Uzumaki is going to be fighting a captain today." His plan was already falling into place because Ogre got a glint of excitement evident in his nonexistence pupil. "Why don't you go fight Naruto? It wouldn't take too long for a man of your strength to brush off the baby captain the Gotei 13 sent to fight Naruto Uzumaki."

Ogre shrugged. "What benefit would it do me if I were to go fight him, eh?" Ogre coldly asked. "How do I know you won't try to kidnap Rukia while I'm fighting this Naruto-boy?"

Goro shrugged carelessly, "No, of course not. Why. Would. I. Do. That. For. Ogre?" He rhetorically asked in a leisure way, pronouncing his words with each breath he took. "I have no need for Rukia-chan." Just to piss off Ogre, the sadistic Quincy let out a moan upon letting out her name. As if he'd said he was in to her. And he would have her.

It worked out, "I'll kill you."

"You scare?"

"Of what?"

Goro coolly crossed one leg over the other, and relaxed his hands on the log as he replied, "Of Naruto, but of course." He said it like it was obvious, and with nothing but the purest of malice in his voice.

"I do not fear the boy. I can fight on even terms with him in that shining blue mode of his." Ogre explained nonchalantly. As he remembered Goro telling him about the boy's special lightning form, that enabled him to be able to move at the speed of lightning. And it enhanced his physical strength greatly.

"So fight him then."

This was starting to get repetitive, but Ogre couldn't restrain the urge to test out his overwhelming power of darkness, against the power of lightning itself. Such a match, such an opponent would be truly worthy of taking on Ogre. But was Ogre worthy of such an honour? Probably! "Alright," Ogre stood up without any flinches as he'd reached his decision. "I will go fight the boy." Goro remained motionless, despite having received the news he'd came for. "But I must warn you-"

"I know. Touch Rukia and I will die. Whatever." Goro abruptly interrupted Ogre.

Ogre just stared at him for a minute before he vanished via his own speed maneuver. He would fight Naruto to the death.

"This'll be fun. He has no idea he has fallen into my trap." Goro licked his lips. "…Rukia."

* * *

**With Karin, Naruto, and Yuzu**

The blond-wolf boy strolled almost carelessly down the road with his twin girlfriends dangling off of his arms. They walked passed the envying eyes of men that wanted to be Naruto, heart-struck women that'd looked like they wanted to get in on the action, to which Naruto regrettably blurted out, "okay", only to be bonked on the head hard by Karin, and soft by Yuzu.

So then the blond-wolf boy carried on walking down the road with a few lumps on his face courtesy of Karin. His eyes became serious, and narrowed intently as a certain brown haired boy wandered into their way of direction. And as he strolled towards them, desiring to move the way they'd came from, he remained silent, and his expression was cold.

Naruto's eyes were then suddenly locked into a stalemate with Ryosuke's, as the lads took a step almost aside to one another because Yuzu and Karin were on the sides of Naruto, the lads still managed to send a deathly stare at each other. And as time slowed down between the two, and everything but the lads disappeared as if they'd been thrown into a white-realm to do battle for all eternity.

Yuzu and Karin's grips around Naruto's arms quickly and immensely tightened as they watched Ryosuke's eyes shift and morph into sharp, light golden iris, exactly like an eagle's eye would be. Naruto's eyes widened as a flashy scene ran through his mind, involving him as a wolf, and Ryosuke as the eagle.

And then, it was over. As Naruto, Yuzu, and Karin reached the end of a one way alleyway, Karin and Yuzu let out a deep breath that they were subconsciously holding in. It was almost like a force was thickening the air itself.

It was intoxicating.

"Did you see Ryosuke's eyes Naruto?" Karin asked as she loosened her grip on Naruto's arm and a cold sweat ran down her face. "His eyes looked so sharp." She finished slightly nervous and Naruto narrowed his eyes and closed his mouth, only his fangs showed at the corners of his mouth.

"Like an eagle." Yuzu followed up on her sister's line of trail, and Karin nodded in acknowledgement. "It's so strange." She continued and Naruto squinted his eyes. "You're a wolf Naruto-kun. And Ryosuke's an eagle." Yuzu finished cheerily and Naruto dumbly looked at her before a huge grin grew across his face.

Karin, deadpanned. "I think that's obvious Yuzu-chan." Yuzu's cheeks puffed up, making Naruto laugh and give Yuzu a kiss on her cheek to calm her down. And he would've given one to Karin if her eyes hadn't become narrowed. She looked alert. "Do you sense that Naruto?"

"Uhmm," Naruto wasn't as quick as Karin when it came to sensing energy signatures, and had to take a quick few seconds to try and pin-point what Karin had pointed out. "I see." Naruto's eyes also became narrowed as an eager smirk grew across his face.

Yuzu became curious, "What is Naruto-kun?"

"Fun," Naruto's wolf smirk grew wide as Karin and Yuzu gave him a confused look. "You girls go on without me. I'm going to deal with our little stalker first."

"Naruto," Yuzu stated, "I don't think that's wise. What If you get hurt?"

"Don't worry Yuzu-chan." Naruto assured as he let go of Karin and Yuzu's hands and took a step forward in the right direction on the path to becoming a true warrior, "I've got this in the bag." The wolf smirk was telling Yuzu that Naruto was radiating with confidence.

"But Naruto-" Yuzu tried to persuade Naruto before Karin put a stop to her rumblings by touching her arm.

"Yuzu," Karin murmured. "Naruto's got this. We wouldn't be able to stop him from doing this even if we wanted to. Isn't that right, Naruto?" She got a playful smile for her answer from her and Yuzu's lovable wolf. So Karin smirked, "Go get him, Naruto!"

Naruto drummed his chest like a gorilla, "Yeah!" Naruto roared like a mighty Godzilla but then looked sheepish when he realized he'd done the wrong animal chant. "Sorry…" Naruto cleared throat, threw his head back, and…" owooooo," let out the most fierce wolf howl it shocked Karin and Yuzu. "I'm off. I promise I'll catch up to you after I defeat the stalker." with a salute to his girls, Naruto fazed out like he wasn't even there.

"Naruto-kun…" Yuzu said worriedly as she glanced up towards the sky with her hand on her heart.

"Are you worried about Naruto?" Yuzu turned to see her sister Karin's smiling face, a smile full of confidence in Naruto's abilities. "Don't be. Whoever's following us obviously has a death wish or just can't sense energy signatures; because if he could he would know that Naruto's way out of his league."

"It's not that Karin-chan." Yuzu injected with a bit of cry. "It's-" she stopped herself and looked down, feeling a little ashamed of herself that she thought the boy she loved was turning into an animal.

Karin picked up on this and tapped her sister on her shoulder, getting Yuzu to look up, "I know, you're worried about Naruto turning into a werewolf at night, right?" Yuzu gave a stiff nod, getting Karin to rub the back of her head a bit inwardly, "I don't know what to say. It did seem like his 'pretend' howl was more animalistic."

"I hope he doesn't turn into a werewolf. I mean, I trust him, and-" Yuzu stopped herself when Karin embraced her in a hug.

"Don't worry, I know you care for Naruto, and I care for him too. So let's just assume that was a really good howl he just did instead of thinking it was the real deal, okay." Karin winked at Yuzu.

"Okay sis." Yuzu said.

"Good," Karin said, "Then let's hurry and go visit kaa-chan's grave and-" Karin placed her palm on top of her head and stopped herself mid-sentence as a powerful energy signature penetrated her senses full force. "Oh great… not him," Yuzu gasped upon witnessing the high speed entrance of Goro.

"Hello there," Goro greeted Karin and Yuzu with a sadistic smile on his face. "How are you doing?" Despite his pleasant way of talking, Yuzu and Karin took an involuntary step back and were sweating bullets from the faint killing intent he was emitting.

"W-what d-do w-want f-from u-us?" Yuzu stammered, the fear was evident on her face. This was the man that'd put Ryosuke in hospital at least for the night with no more than a small piece of a rubber. She'd every right to be scared.

Goro smirked, "Just a word."

* * *

**Elsewhere – With Hitsugaya Toshiro**

Hitsugaya was jumping from rooftop to rooftop, searching frantically for the abnormally high power level his scouter had picked up, as he'd programmed all their scouters to lock-on to their targets beforehand.

Toshiro could feel a bead of sweat rolling off of his face. He couldn't even feel the boy's energy without the scouter. It was off of the charts, but how? It didn't make any sense to Toshiro. How could a half-breed shinigami possess such unbelievable power?! Such power! Toshiro knew instantaneously that he would've to release his Shikai then his Bankai within minutes or seconds just to stand a chance of not being blow away with one punch!

Luckily for Toshiro, Anna-sama had taken the liberty to make sure that his and his team's power didn't get sealed off. So he, Matsumoto, and Ikkaku had their full power for this mission. And he could honestly see why they'd need every last ounce of it.

Stealthily, Toshiro landed on a building and checked his scouter, "What?" He couldn't see Naruto's energy signature anymore. "He's energy has disap-" He stopped himself when the scouter began rolling numbers again before his eyes, only rising. "It's going up-"

Toshiro didn't get a chance to finish as he felt his face curved in from a tremendous blow that'd came out of nowhere. He screamed frantically as he went spinning out of control, travelling faster than a moving bullet all the way out of town. His stomach soon sucked in as if a full ton weight fell into it before Toshiro was powered to the ground by an explosive kick.

**WHAMM!**

The earth exploded in a mass amount of debris dust before it swayed to the side, revealing a bloodied Toshiro lying in a deep crater he made with his body. "…So powerful," he admitted, his words sounding strained as he pushed himself off of the ground and saw a figure looming from the sky. As it slowly descended onto the foot of the earth, Toshiro's blond target was revealed in shinigami form. "How'd you transform so quickly?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Were you following us? Be warned, if you don't answer me honestly, I'll beat the shit out of you!" He growled as he showed his razor sharp fangs to Toshiro and flared his tremendously powerful blue aura that blew the bangs of Toshiro's hair to the side.

Toshiro's eyes widened but he managed to keep his cool, "I'm in no objection to tell you anything." He unsheathed his Zanpakuto from the scabbard that was on his back. "But if you must know, I'll elaborate for your incompetent brain to understand. I'm here to simply kill you if needs be."

Now Naruto was damn right confused by the word "incompetent," but he was smart enough to know he was being threatened. "Heh, I can beat you anytime of the week."

Toshiro smirked. "Oh really…" He held his Zanpakuto over his shoulder before calling out the words, "**Rain over the frosted heavens, ****Hyourinmaru!**"

Naruto felt the air and the temperature drop drastically. It became so cold he could see his own breath. He watched in fasciation and awe as ice began forming on Toshiro's shoulders, making two shoulder pads made out of ice that covered Toshiro's shoulders. The ice spread to his back and spouted out a pair of wings so Toshiro could fly much faster.

"Whoa…" Naruto exclaimed. "What's that, your Shikai or Bankai?"

Toshiro's head almost fell off, "You idiot!" He screamed belligerently as he waved his sword, making the ice dragon with piecing crimson eyes dance around him. "You should be able to tell by my spiritual pressure that this is my Shikai!"

"STOP YELLING AT ME, I DIDN'T KNOW!"

"THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULD DO YOUR HOMEWORK!"

Many tick marks had formed on Toshiro's face due to Naruto's stupidity, "Whatever, let's just get this test under way." Toshiro narrowed his eyes. "I'm Captain Hitsugaya of the Gotei 13!"

Naruto scratched his head in a confused manner, "What? Gotei- What? Captain- What?" The wolf was lost. "I don't know who the fuck you are, but I'm going fuck you up crazy-style, because I'm Uzumaki Naruto! The man or, boy if you want to be a dick about it, that's going to be the best shinigami that has ever lived!"

Toshiro sweat dropped, 'Is this guy for real." he watched with a twitching eyebrow as the blond lowered his fist and folded his arms over his chest. "Whatever. I don't have time for your childish games. Unsheathe your big Zanpakuto and fight me already!"

A shake of the head came from Naruto, "Na, I don't think you're ready for that."

"What?"

"You're not on my level." Naruto admitted freely, "If I unsheathed my Zanpakuto and when all-out on you, I'd probably kill you, hehe. My Yuzu-chan doesn't want me killing people or shinigami. Karin-chan might though. But that's a maybe." He spoke idly to Toshiro as if they were just having a friendly spar.

Toshiro's face turned red, "You cocky…" he grinded his teeth and flew at Naruto, "I'll teach you to underestimate the power of the captains you insignificant brat!"

Toshiro closed the distance between the blond, who'd refused to open his eyes, and himself. He swung his sword with ferociously at the blond, and watched in confusion as the wolf-boy raised his arm to apparently block Toshiro's blade.

And sparks were soon flying as Toshiro's sword met Naruto's arm in a head on collision. 'No way…' Toshiro thought as a cold sweat ran down his cheek. 'I can't even cut through him. What is he?' Toshiro gulped.

Ogre watched the whole confrontation with a gleam. "This kid… he possesses such overwhelming spiritual pressure to the point he feels he doesn't have to protect himself with his Zanpakuto against a Low A-class shinigami's attack." Ogre assessed to himself as he observed Naruto when the blond begin to instruct Toshiro.

"Love the intensity man." Naruto complimented as he cocked his fist back. "But it's like this." He threw a sharp punch towards Toshiro, and unfortunately for Naruto, his chitter-chatter gave Toshiro the time to block and he did just that. "Great work Toshiro, that's excellent." Naruto complimented as more sparks bounced off of his fist, as if he'd met steel with steel rather than flesh with steel.

Toshiro gained a tick mark on his head, "That's Captain-Hitsuga-" A blackening punch to Toshiro's face silenced him instantaneously as he found himself being launched back as if he had been fired out of a cannon. "Aaaaaaaah! Damn!"

Naruto pouted, "No Toshiro! Bad boy, you don't lose concentration in a fight!" Naruto instructed him as if he were Toshiro's teacher, "Now try again." Naruto ordered. "Don't worry Toshiro, you're doing great. I'll get you up to scratch in no time."

It was bad enough to be losing the fight in such a manner, but now the blond-wolf boy was apparently teaching Toshiro how to fight as if he were Toshiro's sempai. "He's going to pay…" an exasperated Toshiro said coldly to himself. As he stood up in the crater he made and outstretched his limbs, making sure everything was in working order.

Ogre continued to watch with a fascinated eye as Toshiro grew more and more frustrated with his attempts to cut through Naruto's skin. "Yes," The warrior blood was coursing through Ogre's veins. "He's the one." Ogre got a glint in his eye as he watched Naruto openly taunt Toshiro with the flick of his hand. "It's almost time."

Toshiro fazed out, reappearing behind Naruto via flash-step, 'Let's see how good your flash-step is in comparison to mine,' Toshiro thought as he whammed the straight-edged sword directly towards Naruto's back. A look of shock was plastered all over Toshiro's face because Naruto had effortlessly blocked it by extending his arm behind himself. "Your flash-step's pretty good."

"I don't use flash-step," Naruto admitted honestly, confusing Toshiro. "It's pour. It's physical. It's immense speed!" Naruto announced as he adjusted his body, grabbed Toshiro's arm in a vice-lock grip, and began spinning him around like a whirlwind tornado!

"Shitttttttttt!" Toshiro shouted belligerently as he felt his vision going crazy, his hair swaying all over the place and his head pounding before Naruto sent him skyrocketing away, crashing and smashing directly into a thick tree, snapping it to pieces upon impact. "He's strong," Toshiro managed to choke out. As he sat up, he could feel the red blood pouring down his face and into his eyes. "If I don't use my Bankai, then there's no way I can beat him."

"YO TOSHIRO-SAN, WHERE ARE YOU MY FRIEND!?"

Naruto's booming voice echoed throughout the forest, annoying Toshiro, who'd almost shouted at him to shut up, but managed to refrain himself from doing so. Now wasn't the time to be making rash decisions, especially considering the fact he was up against a far superior opponent. Strength, power, and pretty much everything except for speed Naruto had Toshiro far outclassed in. But then again, Naruto wasn't even using his full power. For all Toshiro knew, Naruto could've been using 20% of his power to subdue him.

"This is madness!" Toshiro stressed. "There's no way a human can possess this kind of immense power. He hasn't even released his Shikai and I'm already heavily outclassed despite the fact that I've already released my Zanpakuto."

"Toshiro-dude," Naruto yelled as he searched frantically. "Don't be leaving a brother hanging… yo." Naruto shook his head at his attempt to sound gangsta. "I aren't no gangsta. Believe it!" Naruto roared. "Yo, Toshiro-dude, don't be a pussy man."

Toshiro ignored Naruto's taunts in favour of charging up to release his Bankai. "It's all or nothing." Toshiro said to himself as he held his Zanpakuto in front of himself. "**Daiguren Hyou**

"Oh no you don't, you've had your fun. Now it's mine."

Toshiro's eyes widened at the cold voice that'd slipped behind him almost like a ninja. He never even got the chance to say 'hi' before a devastating chop was delivered to his neck, sending him flying out of his hiding place, like a baseball being hit out of bounds.

Naruto saw the flying Toshiro and grinned widely, "Yo Toshiro," Then confusion was written all over Naruto's face as he realized Toshiro was spiralling out of control. "Who did that to Toshiro-dude?" Naruto asked idly to himself. As he watched Toshiro slammed hard into the surfaced of the ground with a considerable thud. The blood oozing out of Toshiro's head and surrounding his body showed he wasn't getting up anytime soon.

Naruto felt a cold shiver run up his spine even know Toshiro's ice had instinctively melted away. His breathing became tight and his senses were on high alert. He involuntary snapped his head to the sound of cracking woods splitting in the distance. He remained speechless as a man with dark purple hair, and skin so dark the devil himself would've been proud. He wore a tattered black gi with purple outlines and a purple sash tied around his waist.

Naruto gaped upon witnessing Ogre's eyes, his sickening eyes with no visible pupils, shining monstrously at Naruto. An enormous battle axe rested on the devilish man's back. And as he spoke those words, "You ready for a real fight?" Naruto knew he'd to be at his best if he wanted to stand a chance of surviving this fight.

* * *

**So that's the end of that chapter. Please make sure to always leave a review. I'm Flint009. And I'm signing off! Peace!**


	17. The Wolf-Boy and the Demon-Man Do Battle

**Disclaimer: I don't Shaman King, Bleach, nor Naruto**

* * *

**Chapter 17**

**The Ruthless Wolf-boy and The Remorseless Demon Do battle**

The jaw of Manta was on the floor as he witnessed a low A-class shinigami of the Gotei thirteen effortlessly brushed aside like he was nothing. This was because Yoh-sama had managed to convince Anna-sama to allow Manta to watch the fight between Naruto and Toshiro as long as Manta simultaneously does the mountain of paperwork piling up on his desk.

And how Manta wished Yoh-sama hadn't convinced Anna-sama to allow him to bare watch between the "fight" (More like a one sided slug fest) between Toshiro and Naruto.

It was astounding enough to see Toshiro thrown into the steep forest without even having so much of dealt a single scratch to Naruto, but now his eyes widened even more upon witnessing the culprit that'd dealt the finishing blow to Toshiro's neck! That dark skin, the spiky purple hair sticking up as if it were defying gravity, and most notable trait was the black and purple gi he wore.

"I-it can't be…" Manta stammered, shaking in his seat as he watched the demon-man unsheathe his axe from his back and gesture Naruto to come forward with the flick of his hand on the big monitor just above Manta's door, "It's him. It's Ogre! But how? He was defeated by Amidamaru over one thousand years ago!" Manta frantically grabbed a white phone that was on the side of his desk, and hastily dialled a number, "I must inform Anna-sama about this. This is not good!"

* * *

**Naruto vs. Ogre **

To say Naruto was confused would be the understatement of the semester. The blond-wolf boy couldn't even comprehend where the hell this madman came from before he relentlessly attacked Naruto with a flurry of fast attacks he managed to pull off with ease despite the enormous battle axe he swung. Naruto only managed to say, "Who are you?" before a tremendously powerful kick was delivered straight into his gut, sending him crash landing into the ground with an immense thud.

"My name is Ogre." Ogre introduced himself as he kept his face impassive. "Enough of that now… come at me young one. Or you'll die; it's that simple wolf-boy." Ogre said, taking note of the fangs sticking out of Naruto's mouth.

Naruto stood up to his feet and wiped the blood off of his mouth. "Oh yeah, well I got news for you, and that's Uzumaki Naruto doesn't go down easy! Bitch!" He was forced to go forward when Ogre fazed out and reappeared behind Naruto's back before the blond could even hold out his blade to block, 'So fast!' Naruto thought.

But he didn't have the time to sit back and admire Ogre's speed because the demon-man was right on his tail after his narrow failed attempt to slice the blonde's head off of his shoulders. Ogre flew so fast and so ferocious at Naruto, he left the wind trailing in the wake of his speed. Naruto could only just about block Ogre's venomous kick. The force of the blow sent Naruto skidding back on his heels. And while doing so, the blond took note of a gold chain dangling around Ogre, but didn't dwell on it too long.

Thinking quickly, Naruto grabbed Ogre's leg before the purple haired man could disconnect himself from him, and spun him around rapidly fast. "Take this, you bitch!" Naruto shouted belligerently as he kept on spinning Ogre so fast, the man's vision was getting blurry.

Ogre countered this by slamming his hands straight into the ground, eliciting Naruto to stop spinning him as he was forced to the side by a fast-paced kick from Ogre. And Ogre followed up on his missed-attack by flipping up and swinging his fist at Naruto with furiously. But unfortunately for Ogre, Naruto fought back with his own knuckles-damaging punch. And as soon as Ogre and Naruto's fists collided, a huge shockwave blew the leaves on the trees.

As Ogre and Naruto stared each other down, fists still touching from their ferocious clash, Ogre could feel a trickle of blood run down his fist. So clearly the man had taken the blurt force of the clash between him and Naruto. 'He's powerful. His physical and striking strength is superior to mine.' A smirk grew on Ogre's face, 'however, I've got speed on my side.'

Naruto was bewildered to why Ogre was smirking, but couldn't dwell on it too long as he was almost toppled over when Ogre disappeared without warning. "Where'd he go?" Naruto wondered out loud, frantically searching for any signs of his opponent. "Ogre-du-" Naruto soon cut himself off as he felt his face curved in before being launched ten feet away from his original spot at a speed unheard of. "Aaaaaaaah!" Naruto screamed as he crashed into a tree, breaking it upon impact, "He's so fast!"

Ogre still had his fist out-extended from the blow he'd used to send Naruto flying away as if the wolf-boy was a missile of some sort. "I'll have to use my speed to overwhelm him." Ogre whispered to himself, vanishing from sight once again.

"Shit!" Naruto braced himself for a boulder smashing punch from the man by crossing his arms over his chest, and that was exactly what he received when Ogre sent him spilling backwards via an immense kick that should leave a bruise on Naruto's arm. And as Naruto went skidding back on his feet, smashing heavily through thick trees as he did, Ogre was not finished with him.

Holding his left palm out, Ogre called out the words, "**Hado: Number 33****, soukatsui!" **A huge blue beam of pour spirit energy was sent rocketing out of Ogre's palm at the travelling back Naruto at such pace it burned the trees just from its power alone.

Naruto's eyes widened at the speed of which the blast was travelling at. "Shit. I can't dodge that." Naruto instinctively folded his arms over his chest and roared out the words, "**Hagane Kagami Renpatsu (Steel mirror barrage)!" **And not a moment too soon, Naruto quickly vanished, leaving a trail of mesmerizing afterimages of himself just as the hado attack looked set to pierced through him.

**BOOM! **

The resulting hado attack decimated the trees after a mini explosion engulfed a small part of the forest. Ogre had no time to admire his handy work as twenty Naruto's appeared around him, trying to mesmerize him with the speed they were moving at. 'He's gotten faster,' Ogre thought as he calmly stood still and began manoeuvring his arms in all different directions just as Naruto's afterimages begun to attack. 'But he's still not as fast as me.' Ogre concluded as he blocked Naruto's attacks before sending a devastating kick into the real one's stomach, thus forcing Naruto to cough out blood from the force of the attack.

The power of Ogre's blow sent Naruto hurling away from him with ferocious force. Even still, Ogre could feel his arms burning with an unbelievable amount of pain from the brutal assault of Naruto and his afterimages. "He's powerful." Ogre complimented Naruto nonchalantly, "Even blocking him hurts… what is he?" Ogre still couldn't keep the challenging smirk off of his face at the prospect of taking on and beating someone with power almost equal to that of Zaraki-san.

Naruto stood up in the newly made crater his wounded body created, "Damn it. He's so fast! There's no way I can keep up with his speed like this." It was certainly exasperating for Naruto to analyse. He could always use his full powered Raijin mode. But that only lasts around ten minutes. And Naruto wasn't exactly sure if he could beat Ogre in ten minutes, "I'll just have to batter him down before going Raijin mode." Because that would be so much better, seriously, it would.

Naruto poked his head out to look for Ogre, only to be left flabbergasted upon not seeing him anywhere, 'Where the fuck is he?' Naruto thought to himself, missing the swish sound that appeared behind him. "Aaaaaaaaahh!" Naruto screamed belligerently as a tremendous punch was whaled into his back, sending him flying into the open space in crazy fashion.

Naruto shifted his body around to find Ogre charging in on him with a glint shining in his eye as he held his huge battle axe at the ready to engage Naruto head on in a weapon clash. "That's how you want to play it." Naruto said to Ogre who just smirked in response. "Okay, I'll play your game." Naruto whipped out his huge katana from his back and flew straight towards Ogre, gritting his razor sharp fangs all the while.

**BOOM! WHAMM! WHACK! BAMM! WHAMM! WHACK! BAMM!**

The resulting shock-waves of the blinding strikes the two weapons wielded by the two high A-class shinigamis were causing just by hitting into each other knocked the rest of the trees down to the ground as if they'd all been axe-saw clean off in one strike. The ground was rattling immensely as Ogre and Naruto continued to press their two weapons together, neither one could break through the other strong defence, but neither Naruto nor Ogre was letting up on the relentless assault their weapons were dishing out at each other. Each respective smirk was plastered on the other face as they took their battle high into the sky, so high even the heavens bared witness to the speculation that they were given.

And to the naked eye, only two flashes of lights were seen as Ogre and Naruto's strikes reached above the clouds themselves, and that was where Naruto became fed up with the repetitive strikes, and abruptly stopped his attacks on Ogre, receiving a horrible gash across his face for putting down his guard. A look of confusion was plastered all over Ogre's face until Naruto trapped him in a bear-hug.

"You're crazy!" Ogre shouted as he realized what Naruto was going to do. Naruto only chuckled in amusement before he turned Ogre downwards and began to descend at a quick fire pace thanks to his patented steel mirror barrage, "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Ogre roared helplessly as he felt his arms sway upwards on their own accord. He felt his grip on his battle axe loosen from the momentum of the fall but managed to keep a firm grip on it.

True warriors don't let go of their weapons.

Naruto couldn't even shield his eyes as the wind blew heavily in his face. As he kept a solid grip around Ogre's wrist in case he managed to stop himself. Further and further, the more speed Naruto put into this fall the more closer the ground got, until flames emitted themselves around Naruto and Ogre, and then….

**WHAMMM!**

Naruto super speared Ogre so hard into the ground that he sunk the ground out so much; every single piece of green was now no more within the once green forest, just a deserted wasteland with a huge ass crater in the centre of it. And within said crater laid a bloodied man with purple man, and he'd a blond head struck into his gut as a pair of legs stood on end.

Naruto flipped himself out of Ogre and panted heavily. He wiped the blood across his nose but found it to be redundant as more blood spilled out. He could've sworn the temperature got even colder now, but that was beside the point. "Is it over?" Naruto asked rhetorically, because he knew deep down that this fight was far from over.

And so it proved. As Ogre stood up to his feet, he held his bruised ribs which had a red mark just underneath his karate gi. "Good." Ogre complimented, momentarily cringing in pain as he removed his hand from his ribs only to quickly put it back on. 'I feel like I'm being stabbed in my fucking chest!' Ogre knew he'd have to go all out if he wanted to beat Naruto.

But before he could do that, a large iceberg appeared from out of nowhere before Ogre felt a sharp pain in his back, and blood spilled from his wound. "Shit!" Gritting his teeth together, Ogre sucked in the pain, allowing him to deliver a return punch that whammed into a powered up Toshiro.

Naruto looked curious, "Whoa Toshiro-dude! You got stronger. Is that your Bankai release?" Noticing the wings on Toshiro's back had grew even bigger than before, and the ice dragon with crimson eyes seemed even more powerful than before too.

A blooded Toshiro grew a tick mark on his head. "That's Captain-Hitsugaya to you!" Upon calming down, he addressed the matter more intellectually. "**Daiguran Hyourinmaru**. This is my Bankai!" Toshiro announced. "And with this I'll win!" Despite the wound he received courtesy of Ogre's sneak attack, Toshiro was all guns blazing.

That made Naruto smile, "Alright." Naruto said as his smile turned into a hardened smirk. A smirk of a true warrior, "I'm going to release my full power." He gripped his white head-cloth with his left hand and sent Ogre an expectant look, confusing Toshiro.

Ogre understood perfectly well and held his axe in front of himself, "I'm ready… boy. Now, you two will feel a power not seen for over five hundred years!" Toshiro's eyes widened in realization, "**Scorch the darkest demon****s**** themselves, Kumori!" **Ogre roared as Naruto removed his headband. And before Toshiro's stunned eyes two overwhelming powers were release that would send this fight onto a whole other level.

**BOOOOOOOOOM!**

* * *

**Elsewhere – With Rangiku**

The orange/blond haired female shinigami had just made it into town. And now all she'd to do was search for Kurosaki Ichigo and test out his skills. And she would've set out to search for Ichigo if the scouter on her left eye hadn't started rolling numbers before her stunned eyes.

"What the hell?" Rangiku started, looking off in the direction of Toshiro and Naruto's fight. "This can't be the captain's power." She knew Toshiro never had that kind of immense power. That'd put someone on a high A-class level. "Toshiro-kun's going to need help fending off those two." She could see two abnormally high power levels appear one after the other on her scouter that were neither Toshiro nor Ikkaku, and with that on her mind she changed her course of direction and headed to go help her captain.

* * *

**Elsewhere – With Goro talking to Karin and Yuzu**

The two Kurosaki twins could feel their breathing get heavy as their chests heaved in and out. They involuntarily took a step back and held their arms near their chests, as if they were forming a protective barrier between themselves and the sadistic Goro before them.

"What do you mean you want a word with us?" Karin asked, through a slight stammer of her words, and a bead of sweat rolling off of her cheek. This man was not to be messed with.

The Quincy stood stoic before the quivering girls, "How strong do you both think Uzumaki is?" It was a random question. It was probably meant to throw both of them off guard. And from the bewildered looks on the girls' faces, Goro knew he hadn't really elaborated a whole lot for them to comprehend. "How strong do you think Uzumaki is?" It was a simple enough question. Or at least Goro thought so.

"What do you want with Naruto?" Karin snarled. It didn't make much sense to her or Yuzu. Why would this man desire to know Naruto's true strength? Wasn't he the eagle-eyed boy's (Ryosuke's) father? Then by all rights and by logical thinking he should want to know his son's true power, not Naruto's.

Goro chuckled. "Brave one, aren't you? I suppose you get that from_ Uzumaki Naruto_." He mockingly said his name, eliciting snarls from both Yuzu and Karin the way he was openly dissing their Naruto's name. "Oh come on." Putting on the sarcasm, Goro elaborated. "Let's just say an event of sorts is coming out soon."

Karin and Yuzu both raised an eyebrow before Yuzu voiced her thoughts, "W-What do you mean by that." She said after swallowing a lump in her throat, and she ended up swallowing another one as Goro got a gleam in his eye. 'I don't like that look in his eye,' Yuzu thought to herself.

"Well that's easy. It'll decide who's the best warrior out of the Quincy, the shinigami, and the hollow," Goro explained smoothly, and Karin and Yuzu both blinked confusedly at him. "Now you know." It was obvious from the deadpan look on Karin's face that they didn't know, but Goro was just trying to piss them off. "Uzumaki Naruto will be completing in an event very soon. And so will Kagoshima Ryosuke, Kurosaki Ichigo, and Susumu Ogre, brother of Kuchiki Rukia."

Karin's and Yuzu's eyes widened before Karin wondered, "What! Rukia has a brother!?" That was shockingly enough and Goro nodded menacingly at her, making her and Yuzu take another involuntary step back. "And you say Naruto, Ichi-nii, Ryosuke, and Rukia's brother will be completing in this special event of yours?" she sounded sceptical, and disgust was evident on her face. "You can't order people around!"

Yuzu nodded fiercely with her sister, "That's right! And besides Naruto-kun's way stronger then you!" she said with a shining resolve in her eyes, and the sparkling stars around her face.

Goro laughed manically, "Oh, you really think so?" With a simple stretch of the muscles, Goro made the bangs of the girls' hairs sway upwards as they each took a step back to avoid being knocked over by the bright blue energy radiating off of Goro.

Karin injected, "S-such power…!"

Goro let up on his energy, allowing the girls to breath. And for Karin, her head felt a lot more relaxed since that power died down, "Now you see my power. You know there's nothing Uzumaki Naruto can do to stop me." The shaking silence of both girls told him to continue, which he did with a gusto, "Now that Ogre's fighting Naruto, it'll give me enough time to head up to Masaki's grave and take my prize in Rukia."

Karin and Yuzu gasped immensely upon hearing him say that, "Naruto-kun's fighting Rukia-chan's brother?" Yuzu wondered rhetorically and Goro nodded sadistically, "Oh no."

"What do you want with Rukia-chan you monster?" Karin spoke, demandingly. "Ichi-nii's not weak. He'll fight you if it means he can protect Rukia." It was more of a guess on Karin's part then an actual fact. She figured the death of their mother would spur Ichigo into wanting to protect people so they wouldn't have to go through the same pain as he went through.

Goro smirked, "I know. It's just what I'd expect from Masaki's boy. Now, if you both excuse me, I think I'd better get going." Goro casually turned around. "I hope you're both right about Uzumaki Naruto's strength. Because I'd hate to think my plans for him were a waste of time." He released some killing intent that'd Karin and Yuzu on their knees, "Take care now, ladies." Goro vanished via Hirenkyaku.

Karin and Yuzu gasped from the rush of air, both were panting heavily, and both had worried expressions on their pretty faces. "What're we going to do Karin-chan?" Yuzu asked, anxiety rising up inside of her.

Karin slammed her palm against her head when the mad rush of power levels assaulted her senses, "So much… energy." Karin strained out, receiving a concerned look from Yuzu in the process. "Okay… sis." Karin said, still straining her words as she stood up to her feet. "We need to get to the cemetery before Goro and warned Rukia about the impending danger."

Yuzu stood up to her feet, "Are you sure we can make it in time?" It was a good question.

"Of course I can!" Karin assured. "Naruto wouldn't give up and either will we! We have to at least warn the old man and Ichi-nii before Goro gets there and takes Rukia away from Ichi-nii."

After hearing that Naruto wouldn't give up, Yuzu nodded and grabbed her sister's hand, "Alright Karin-chan! Naruto-kun would never give up, so we won't either! Let's go!"

Karin squeezed her sister's hand, "Atta girl! Let's do this!" And with that, the two girls sprinted off towards the cemetery as quickly as possible.

* * *

**Ryosuke vs. Ikkaku**

Ryosuke didn't get much warning from the bald guy other than a challenging smirk that said he wanted to fight him, before the man lunged in on him with a ferocious slash, eliciting Ryosuke to do a backflip before injecting the green pill with Kon's soul in it and releasing his soul form from his physical body. And now Kon stood watched in Ryosuke's body holding the ninja teddy bear in his grasp as his friend fought furiously up in the sky as if his life depending on it.

"Come on Ryosuke!" Kon urged. He watched as Ikkaku connected with a devastating knee straight into Ryosuke's gut. Kon "ohhed" at Ryosuke's painstakingly expression, "Don't give up! Think about Orihime!" Kon had to swiftly cover his nose to prevent blood leaking out of it.

Ryosuke ignored Kon in favour of swinging his two swords around in a complete spin. Ikkaku smirked before sticking out his staff-like Zanpakuto to block Ryosuke's attacks. Ikkaku did so successfully by twirling his Zanpakuto around, redirecting Ryosuke's off-course. Taking full advantage of a wide open Ryosuke, Ikkaku bought his Zanpakuto down ultra-fast style, creating a long gash across Ryosuke's chest as he did.

"Come on Kid," Ikkaku said cockily as he hammer-punched Ryosuke straight on top of his head, making the half breed shinigami fall down to the ground with a thud. "At least make this interesting. I'm practically bored out of my mind here." He idly dug out his ear as Kon placed his hand on Ryosuke's shoulder.

"Ryosuke," Kon whimpered loudly, "Are you alright?"

"Of course I am!" Ryosuke snarled in returned. As he shrugged off Kon while the blood oozed out of his busted open head and torn open body, "I'm just getting started, as all." And he was as all. He was still yet to show Ikkaku his Zanpakuto release. "I'm winning this fight no matter what!"

Ikkaku tilted his head to the side in a confident manner, "Oh really? Ha, ha, seems to me like you've been getting your ass handed to you by me. What can you probably do that'll defeat me? I'm sorry to tell you kid that I am Madarame Ikkaku, third seat of the eleventh squad of the Gotei thirteen. In case you don't know what that means, it means I'm your worst nightmare!"

"You talk too much!" Ryosuke smirked and Ikkaku snarled. "Let me show you why they call me Fuji Ryosuke!" Well only Tatsuki called him Fuji-idiot, but who cared right? Not Ryosuke anyway as he held his Zanpakuto in front of himself and roared out the name, **"Cut all those who oppose you, Fuji!" **Ikkaku watched in fasciation as a tremendously powerful green wind surrounded Ryosuke's body and blew Kon off of his feet. And green circles appeared around Ryosuke's eyes.

Ikkaku laughed, "Is that all?" He asked and Ryosuke calmly breathed. Ikkaku held his own Zanpakuto in front of himself and snarled out the words, **"Split!"** His Zanpakuto transformed into a long brown staff with a curved silver blade on the tip of it and a red ribbon on the end of it. "Let's get this show started already, kid!"

Ryosuke smirked. "Not much of a Zanpakuto release there, eh kid?" Ikkaku ignored Ryosuke's attempts of sounding badass in favour of fazing out, reappearing behind Ryosuke in a spilt second. "Someone's awfully impatient." Ryosuke spoke idly to himself as he fazed out, just inches before Ikkaku could cut his head off.

"The kid's flash-step's pretty good." Ikkaku complimented, quickly sticking up his staff horizontally when Ryosuke reappeared in front of him. "That's not bad, kid. I haven't seen a human use the flash-step so well before."

Ryosuke kept trying to push back Ikkaku with his green hilted Zanpakuto, "I don't use flash-step, thanks anyway though." Taking Ikkaku's confusion as a sign to strike, Ryosuke did just that. Blood leaked out of Ikkaku's sliced up chest, eliciting a surprise scream of pain from Ikkaku in the process. "Don't let your guard down." Ryosuke instructed as he sent Ikkaku spilling away from him with a ferocious gut-breaking kick to the stomach.

Kon cheered, "You can go it Ryosuke! Show those shinigamis who they are messing with by sending would-be attackers after you!" Ikkaku slammed hard into a building, denting it as he did. "Ohhhhh! You fucked him up!"

"It's not over yet," Ryosuke said calmly and right on cue Ikkaku stood up to his feet. "This is gonna be good."

"I should be saying that to you, kid!" Ikkaku said with a cocky smile on his face. "Let's continue with our little fight." Ryosuke didn't need to be told twice and took the initiative by vanishing from Ikkaku's sight, reappearing in front of him in a split second. He ignored the cheers from Kon and slashed at Ikkaku, who blocked by extending his Zanpakuto in front of himself. Ikkaku went to pin-point a knee into Ryosuke's stomach but Ryosuke blocked it by extending his own knee upwards.

Ryosuke thought quickly, spinning on his heel to lash an elbow into Ikkaku's face. It connected with a resounding crack and sent Ikkaku spiralling into the wall of the alleyway they were in. Thanks the lord that no one was around to see Ikkaku damage the wall with his body alone. But he didn't have the time to ponder that because Ryosuke was on him again, fazing out instantaneously the moment Ikkaku hit the wall, aiming for his heart, intending on putting an end to the fight once and for all.

But Ikkaku had other ideas. Using the flash-step, Ikkaku got behind Ryosuke, leaving the eagle-eyed boy to slice a piece of the wall away. Ryosuke's senses told him to duck and he did just that. He felt his hair get trimmed a bit as Ikkaku's staff glazed it, missing his head by inches.

More red liquid flew upon Ikkaku's mouth as he felt a sharp pain drive into his gut. He looked down to see Ryosuke's sword in it. Ikkaku gave a pained nod of approval before he head-butted Ryosuke in the back of his head.

"Aaaaaaaaaah!" both Ryosuke and Ikkaku simultaneously screamed as they pictured floating stars dancing in their vision.

"What the hell is your head made out of?! Steel!?" Ikkaku frantically asked as he rubbed his forehead with a painstakingly expression on his face.

"I could say the same thing to you." Ryosuke stated, rubbing the back of his head with one eye shut.

Ikkaku stretched out his blade and grinned widely, "Whatever kid. I'm still going to beat you just so you know. It's my job at the end of the day."

Ryosuke didn't even consider why Ikkaku was here and why he would desire to fight him for. The warrior spirit within Ryosuke just desired to fight someone, hell anyone, just to take his growing frustrations out on somebody. And Ryosuke was getting a match he longed for. A test of his true abilities, he would not disappoint.

"It's time to try out my signature attack." Ryosuke remarked. Kon's eyes widened as they'd spoke about this before Ryosuke was attacked by Ikkaku.

"Ryosuke!"

* * *

**_Flashback – Earlier today_**

_Ryosuke strolled needlessly towards __the shop __with a solemn loo__k and slightly gloomy aura around__ him. Oh man… He didn't realize how much Jun's death would affect him. The guy was a good kid. Smart, __had honour, and just straight up did not deserve to die. "Sorry man… I let you down." Ryosuke murmured to himself as he tightened his grip on the green pill containing__ Kon__. The mod soul must've been close to losing air if it were __a __problem the way Ryosuke was squeezing his pill. And the grip only tightened when Ryosuke walked passed__** him**__!_

_Uzumaki Naruto… That blond son of a bitch, strolling towards him with Karin and Yuzu dangling off of his arms like trophy wives, the arrogant prick thought he was so superior to Ryosuke. The way Naruto walked made Ryosuke's blood boil over, striding closer towards Ryosuke as if he was some big shot._

_It was exasperating. _

_And then, it was over. Just like that. He'd walked out of Naruto's sight. And his vision felt so much sharper because of it. The world looked so much clearer. As if he'd put double lensed contracts over his eyes. The distance that Ryosuke could see was almost frightening. And with a snap of his head, his eyes widened at the sight before him._

_He could see Orihime. Despite being a good thirty minutes away from his home, Ryosuke could see her clearly, sitting on the couch looking at her skirt as she gripped it tight. She must've been stressed about something. _

_Who was Ryosuke kidding? He knew Orihime was worried about him. Bless her. She was such a sweet little thing. And Ryosuke felt an overwhelming urge to keep Orihime safe for as long as he lived. He'd promised her brother he would. And to be honest, he kind of wanted to. Orihime always seemed to bring out the best in him, and actually saw a decent boy under that hard-shall Ryosuke used to frighten most people that weren't Ichigo or Naruto. _

_Fucking morons… Ichigo and Naruto had no respect for his power. _

_Ryosuke stopped his subconscious rants about Naruto and Ichigo as he pushed open a door to a small brown building that'd a sign just above it. On the sign it said, 'Cheers, local store'. _

_There was a dinging sound that echoed throughout the building when Ryosuke pushed the door open. The boy walked towards the counter with a nonchalant expression on his face and was soon greeted by a lively man. _

"_Yo, what's up Ryo?" _

_Ryosuke gave the man a high-five, although he seemed reluctant to do so because his face strained up as he did. "You know what I want." Ryosuke said, cutting straight to the chase. No point in just standing around there talking about nothing. _

"_Yeah, yeah," The man replied in a tiresome tone. He turned around to a shelf filled with different kinds of cigarette boxes and picked up a white and red one off of the shelf. "There you go." He handed the box over to Ryosuke and the boy handed him the money in exchange. "Say hi to your momma for me." He said to the already walking away form of Ryosuke. _

"_Whatever." _

"_Fucking rude-boy," The man whispered to himself as Ryosuke walked out of the shop. _

_Once Ryosuke was a good five yards away from the shop, and in an alleyway where no one could see him, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out the ninja teddy he'd bought to hold Kon's soul in it. "Let's see if this works." It was just a hunch after all. Damn! If it did work that annoying bastard would shout and whine like a little bitch for leaving him in that pill for so long. _

_Ryosuke could almost foresee it coming. _

"_Aaaaaaah! What have you done to me?!"_

_Yep, as soon as Ryosuke put Kon's pill into the ninja teddy, the mod soul instantaneously awoke and proceeded to bitch, just as Ryosuke had predicted he would. Why'd he even save this poor bastard in the first place?_

_Oh yeah… that was right. He felt sorry for him. Since when'd Ryosuke have a conscience! Fuck that! _

"_Hey, I'm talking to you!" Kon shouted belligerently but quickly paled when Ryosuke sent him a glare telling him to shut up, or else. "Be cool. Be cool. I'm cool!" Kon panicked as he spotted a pair of legs and sort pillows in the distance. He instantaneously got a nose bleed. "Boobies! Let me go! Please, I must get boobies!" Kon started squirming about as Ryosuke kept him held up right._

_Ryosuke exasperatedly rubbed the bridge of his nose, "And to think I was going to tell you my new move." This got Kon to stop squirming around. Or that may've been due to the fact that the woman Kon was eyeing up had wandered out of their line of view. Who knew? _

"_Secret move?" Kon took on a thoughtful expression as he crossed his arms over his chest and nodded indignity to himself, "To get the girls?" He said after a few moments of intense thinking. _

"_No you idiot!" Ryosuke yelled, because he already had that. " I'm talking about a move so powerful it might even kill me." The astounded look on Kon's face made him chuckle. "Well not kill me, per say. But it'll leave me fucked up that my opponent could finish me off." _

"_Are you going to use-"_

"_Wait, Kon." A sharp-eyed Ryosuke said. "Someone's coming." With that said Ryosuke shoved his hand down Kon's throat and pulled out the green pill just as Ikkaku appeared at that exact moment._

**_End of flashback_**

* * *

Ikkaku smirked, "Signature attack? You're probably just buffing," Ikkaku said cockily while Ryosuke's body glowed an fantastic-shiny green color, the ground around his feet cracked, and the walls rippled apart. "What the hell?" Ikkaku's eyes widened at the power he was feeling radiating off of Ryosuke. "Maybe he wasn't joking!"

"Shit!" Kon stressed, watching Ryosuke hold his green hilted Zanpakuto in a crouched stance while his blue hilted one remained sheathed into its scabbard on the boy's hip. "This isn't good. If he misses, he'll…" Kon gulped. "… die."

"**taifuu bakuhatsuteki (Typhoon explosive)**!" From the tremendously powerful wind that surfaced around Ryosuke's blade like a hurricane, and from the way the wind itself that shattered the walls of alleyway into dust, Ikkaku knew getting hit by that would end in his complete eradication. "Aaaaaaaaaah!" Ryosuke screamed, restraining every muscle on him to move his suddenly heavy wind-aura blade to attack Ikkaku.

Ikkaku watched in a little bit of fasciation but mostly arrogance as Ryosuke finally sliced his blade towards him, unleashing **taifuu bakuhatiteki **at the smirking Ikkaku. The immense tornado torn the walls of the alleyway to pieces, people from the other side of the town felt the power and were blown away from the typhoon. Kon found it impossible to stay on his feet and was powered down to the ground.

And after the typhoon was over, the alleyway was no more. Just a wasteland filled with scattered dust and little pieces of the remains of the wall Ryosuke's move destroyed. "huff, huff," Ryosuke panted heavily, dropping his Zanpakuto to the ground as the green rings around his eyes disappeared. "Did I win?" He searched frantically for Ikkaku, but couldn't see the bald man anywhere.

The sleeves on Ryosuke's arms were torn off. Blood leaked out of Ryosuke sliced up arms his own move were the cause of. With great power, comes great responsibility.

Kon beamed with happiness, "You won!" He cried and was about to run and hug Ryosuke, only for the boy in question to receive his own answer on the question he'd asked.

Blood flew from Ryosuke's back, "Aaaaaaaah!" Ryosuke screamed as he fell to his knees and cursed himself for being weak. "I lost." He struggled to say, feeling his eyes drifting off to unconsciousness.

Kon watched in horror as an bloodied Ikkaku stood behind Ryosuke, Zanpakuto resting on his shoulder after he'd used it to cut Ryosuke down to size. "Oh shit! Ryosuke!"

Ikkaku smirked, "Well kid, I must say, that was a close call. I barely escaped that move with my life." As if to add proof to this, Ikkaku involuntary fell to his knees and coughed up blood. "Yep, you were so close yet so far. Heh! Feel honoured kiddo; you got to go one on one with a Gotei 13 member of the eleventh squad!"

"Damn it," Ryosuke murmured as his vision began to fade. "I've… failed… how?" That was his last breath before he allowed the darkness to wish over him and he fell unconscious.

Ikkaku had defeated Ryosuke.

Kon ran over to Ryosuke, "Ryosuke!" He kneeled down to the knocked out Ryosuke and looked up fearfully at Ikkaku, "You're not going to kill him, are you?"

Ikkaku laughed, "Na! This way if he ever wants a rematch with me, I'll be happy to give him one." Ikkaku struggled to his feet before pressing a green button on his scouter, 'What the hell?' his eyes widened seeing the two large power levels where Captain-Hitsugaya was, 'This can't be good. I'd better go help the captain.' Ikkaku stood up with a painstakingly expression on his face. That fight with Ryosuke had taken a lot out of him. Good thing he carried some ointment with him. And with making sure Toshiro didn't die on this mission on his mind, Ikkaku fazed out, leaving a battered Ryosuke, and a bewildered Kon, alone.

"Damn it Ryosuke." Kon said as he hurled Ryosuke's arm over his shoulder, "You sure do know how to lose with a bang." That was the truth. But Kon was glad Ryosuke wasn't awake to hear him say that. Otherwise the mod soul would find himself buried six feet under. After picking up Ryosuke's scattered Zanpakuto, Kon dug his feet into the ground and began dragging the unconscious Ryosuke to his mother's house.

* * *

**Walking to school – With Orihime and Tatsuki**

As much as Orihime didn't feel up to going to school, she had to. She still felt concerned for Ryosuke as she left Ryosuke's kaa-chan's house and headed to her own house to get washed and dressed. Tatsuki had voiced her worries for Orihime, but quickly gasped upon hearing that Ryosuke's friend had died. It was shocking, if nothing else.

Ryosuke was always so tough, at the very least to Tatsuki. She couldn't really imagine him moping over anyone. She also thought it was odd that Ryosuke's friend happened to be murdered on this exact day went poor Ichigo goes to visit his mother's grave. Even as Tatsuki was questioned on her whereabouts last night by her own parents, whom she answered honestly, she still had Ichigo and Ryosuke on her mind.

Tatsuki's father might've been mad that his daughter practically stayed out all night at some boy's house if she wasn't so deadpanned when she told him and his wife. So Tatsuki was let off of the hook with nothing more than a simple slap on the wrist. That was what Tatsuki got for helping a friend out. Showed where her priorities lied. Even know it didn't score her any points at home.

As Orihime and Tatsuki rounded a corner, passing out of an alleyway that they wandered into, all the while remaining silent, each for their own reasons, Orihime eventually stopped and placed her hand on her heart, "What is it Orihime-chan?" Tatsuki asked as she stopped near the road slightly in front of the perturbed orange haired girl.

Orihime bit her top lip, "I-It's nothing Tatsuki." Orihime stammered her lie. Tatsuki reluctantly nodded as they began to pace off towards school. Orihime's head drifted upwards towards the sky, her eyes filled with concern, 'Ryo-kun… I hope you're alright.' She wanted to stay at Ryosuke's home and wait for his return. But unfortunately he never returned home. Her anxiety only grew, but Michiko assured that Ryosuke would be fine and was probably blowing off steam at the arcade.

And now Orihime had another bad feeling in the pit of her heart, and hopefully, hopefully, her gut feeling was wrong and Ryosuke was okay. But in her heart she knew he was far from okay.

And that worried Orihime, making her heart ache with each beat it took.

* * *

**100% Naruto vs. Shikai Ogre vs. Bankai Toshiro**

Toshiro's eyes were as big as dinner plates could get. And the battlefield instantaneously turned into a complete wasteland. A speechless Toshiro could only watch with widened eyes as devilish purple wings spouted from Ogre's back. The ground rattled immensely as the purple energy formed on Ogre's arms. Ogre's body itself morphed and grew bigger, half of his black gi torn off of his body, making him look like a caveman.

'What are they?' Toshiro thought, a bead of sweat ran down his cheek. Naruto's power had skyrocketed straight into the sky as soon as he unleashed his headband. An aura of pour lightning surrounded Naruto's body and sword. The kanjis on the sword glowed blue as the blond concentrated his magnificent power. Toshiro knew he was the odd man out here.

Naruto grinned widely, "Whoa… you're strong Ogre-dude! This is going to be so fun. I can't wait." Naruto sent the air flying all over the place with a simple flick of his sword.

'He's a monster,' Toshiro concluded.

Ogre smiled sadistically, "I'm going to enjoy this." Ogre fazed out so fast neither Naruto nor Toshiro could foresee his movements. Next thing Toshiro bared witness to was a hundred Ogre's spiralling around the blond haired shinigami so fast he'd Naruto frantically searching for the real Ogre.

"He's so fast. I can't keep up with him." Naruto said to himself. He was soon sent soaring away after Ogre had delivered a punch straight into his stomach. "Aaaaaaaaaaaah!" Naruto screamed as he felt himself being launched back faster than the eye could see. Toshiro stood watch as Ogre disappeared from sight and reappeared from the shooting Naruto. "Fuck you!" Naruto swore as he managed to maneuver his body and parry Ogre's axe just before it cut his head off.

Ogre and Naruto's weapons pushed against each other. Both gritting their teeth, neither one willing to give in, thus admitting the other one was stronger than him. It didn't take very long for Naruto to overpower Ogre and force him back with pour brute force alone.

"Take this!" Naruto shouted as he whammed his head directly into Ogre's, busting both their foreheads wide open from the immense force of which he smashed his head into Ogre's with. Ogre stumbled back and a bloody Naruto took full advantage. Spinning on his heel, Naruto executed a beautifully done kick with pour spirit energy added to it. As his leg connected resoundingly with Ogre's stomach, a golden tiger morphed from Naruto's leg and implanted itself straight into Ogre, making it look like it'd torn straight through the purple haired man.

Naruto's left leg was still stuck out as his whole body formed a gun shape, "**Kin animaru ****gouka**** keru****(Golden animal grand kick)!"**He announced his new move in some style.

A dumbfounded Toshiro stared blankly as a greatly wounded Ogre was pushed so far back, he involuntary left the battlefield. 'These two are monsters. They possess such incredible spiritual pressures that their Shikais are stronger than my Bankai." Another sweat drop fell from Toshiro's face. "I'm in trouble!"

Naruto watched with a sated smile as Ogre reappeared before him with his chest gravely injured. Demonic green blood poured from Ogre's chest and head as he looked at Naruto with a gleam in his eye. "I've… never had such an enjoyable fight before… you're interesting… Uzumaki Naruto." Ogre stated, breathing heavily as he spoke.

Naruto smiled, "Of course! I'm the strongest ever! Believe it! I'm totally going to whoop your ass all the way into next week, Ogre! Believe it!"

"The arrogance," Ogre responded impassively and with a roll of his eyes. "I guess I'll just have to put you in your place, Uzumaki Naruto." Ogre vanished from sight once again.

Naruto was ready for him this time, "**Hagane Kagami Renpatsu (Steel Mirror Barrage)!" **Naruto disappeared like the wind, the multiple afterimages of himself trailed behind him as he engaged Ogre head on in a fierce battle of will. The powers of their strikes were so ferocious it sent Toshiro stumbling back a bit. All the white haired shinigami could see were two bright white flashes of light as Ogre and Naruto continued to clash their fists into one another.

Naruto could feel Ogre's bones snapping under the immense pressure of which he punched the purple haired man's fist. Ogre must've felt it too because he immediately switched from hand to hand combat to fighting with his battle axe. Taking one enormous step forward, Ogre let himself rip, spinning like a whirlwind tornado surrounded by demonic purple fire.

"**Mouka senpuu (Inferno whirlwind)!"**

Naruto thought quickly, allowing his left leg to glow a bright golden color before calling out the words, "**Kin animaru gouka keru (Golden animal grand kick)!" **

From where Toshiro was floating by, still powered up in his Bankai form, he witnessed a flaming tornado enraged head on in a clash with a golden tiger. The resulting explosion that followed sent Toshiro spinning out of control as a bright flash of light engulfed the entire area.

**BOOM!**

And as the explosion died down, both Naruto and Ogre were revealed. They were bleeding all over. They respective attires were torn to the point they looked like cavemen. Their fist and leg were still touching from the epic clash of power. Their chests heaved in and out.

"T-This… is a good fight." Naruto strained to say. And Ogre nodded in agreement with a painstakingly expression on his face. Sharpness immediately filled Naruto and Ogre's eyes as they looked over to where Toshiro was.

Toshiro managed to bring his momentum to a stop, "Damn those two." He said just as a familiar orange/blond haired shinigami ran into his line of vision, "Matsumoto!" Toshiro shouted belligerently as he fazed out via the flash-step and reappeared on the ground next to Rangiku.

"Captain!" Rangiku shouted, concern coloring her voice. "I saw those high power levels on my scouter and I knew I'd to rush here to help you fight them." She looked like she wanted to break into tears at seeing her captain so messed up. Blood poured down the back of Toshiro's head, "I've got here just in time."

"Lieutenant Matsumoto," Toshiro started, trying to remain calm. "Did you defeat your target Kurosaki Ichigo?" Toshiro asked and Naruto raised a fierce eyebrow.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!? ARE YOU SAYING THAT YOU BASTARDS HAVE BEEN STALKING US, HUH?!"

Rangiku ignored the loud shouts of Naruto in favour of acknowledging her captain's question with a shake of her head, "No captain. I was on my way to deal with Kurosaki Ichigo but then my scouter picked up on their power levels." She pointed to the curious duo of Naruto and Ogre up in the sky. The former watched with his blood slowly rising. "And then I saw that huge explosion not too long ago and I knew that I'd to come here and assist you, sir."

"What the hell are they talking about?" Naruto wondered to himself. "If one wanted to attack me," That was Toshiro, and he was defeated with ease, "And that one with the big boobs..." Maybe he should squeeze them… no! Karin and Yuzu wouldn't be happy but damn pissed if Naruto did that. "Then, is there one fighting Ryosuke-teme now?" The oblivious Ogre just shrugged his shoulders and watched the interaction between Toshiro and Rangiku.

As if answering his question, a bald man slightly bruised up appeared via the flash-step, smirking cockily, "Mission complete captain." Ikkaku stated, hoisting his Zanpakuto coolly onto his shoulder.

Toshiro raised an eyebrow, "You defeated Fuji Ryosuke?" Toshiro asked and Ikkaku nodded with a smirk on his lips. "I see." Toshiro said calmly as he closed his eyes, blood falling in between his eyes as he did.

The rage filled the blonde's eyes hearing that his friend was defeated in battle. 'Bastards.' Ogre could hear the sound of Naruto gritting his razor sharp fangs together as the wolf-boy censored in on Ikkaku.

Ikkaku chucked, "Heh, don't make me laugh captain. These kids obviously have no experience. The dumbass kid tried to use a finishing maneuver when he'd no idea how he'd pull it off. All I'd to do was flash-step behind him at the last second, and from there-… well, you know the drill. I cut his ass down to size." Ikkaku recalled the fight between him and Ryosuke, unaware he was making a dangerous enemy.

"Good job Ikkaku." Toshiro complimented. "Now It's time for us to deal with them." He pointed up at Naruto and Ogre but looked perplexed at the former. "What?" Naruto's eyes were fixated on Ikkaku. His veins were popping out of his head and hands. His skin basically turned red with explosive anger welling up inside of him.

Rangiku's eyes widened as the scouter on her left eye began multiplying numbers at a rapid pace, "His spirit energy's going up!" She alerted and Ikkaku grinned manically.

"YOU BASTARD… I'LL DESTROY YOU FOR WHAT YOU DID TO RYOSUKE-TEME!"

Before Ikkaku's grinning face, Naruto blurred out of existence, slowly fading away as if he were a ghost, "What?" Ikkaku wondered as his eyes widened. Ikkaku then found himself on a one way train-ride to soaring-town. "Aaaaaaaaah!"

"Ikkaku/Ikkaku-kun!" Toshiro and Rangiku simultaneously screamed as they watched the blond that'd appeared before them with his patented steel mirror barrage withdrew his fist, which he'd used to smash Ikkaku away like a pebble, back in.

"You animal!" Rangiku snarled as she lunged in on the enrage blond-wolf boy, ignoring Toshiro telling her to stop, she swung her Zanpakuto at Naruto with ferociously. Naruto was not in the mood to play about. Stepping to the side, Naruto held up his left hand, and holding out his index and middle fingers, Naruto calmly, slickly, and coolly brushed Rangiku's Zanpakuto to the side, shattering it like glass. 'He broke my Zanpakuto… like it was nothing,' Thought a shocked Rangiku as she watched the pieces of her blade scatter before her stunned eyes.

Toshiro gritted his teeth, 'Damn… this kid is a beast.' Toshiro thought to himself and Naruto disappeared like the wind. "He's going after Ikkaku!" Toshiro alerted and Rangiku gasped.

"Ikkaku!" Rangiku shouted. She tried to run off to go help Ikkaku, but Ogre appeared swiftly in front of her with a stern expression on his face. "Get out of my way!" she ordered and Ogre shook his head.

Ikkaku could feel his head spinning as he soared to who knew where. He never even had the time to react before a devastating shot to his back sent him hurling towards the sky. A blond blur whacked Ikkaku with an axe kick to his back, making the bald man go further towards the sky, and the assault didn't stop there. Five ferocious kicks to Ikkaku's back sent him flying into the clouds like a shooting star. A shooting star that was about to come crashing back down.

Ikkaku could feel two hands on his head before solid steel whammed into his head, again, again, again, and again. Until he peeked his eyes open to see that it was actually Naruto's head that was sending him piling towards the ground. The pain was unbearable for Ikkaku as he felt his head busted wide open from the assault of Naruto's head-butts.

**WHAMM! **

Blood flew from Ikkaku's mouth as he felt himself land heavily onto the solid ground, eliciting a huge crater to appear just from the force of which Naruto drove him into. "I'm not done yet." Naruto snarled as he held his two hands up and formed a couple of fists like a boxer. Then at a speed faster than the eye could not see, Naruto whaled Ikkaku with a tremendous amount of unbelievable punches. Every time Naruto pounded Ikkaku's chest, the bald man felt like he was being stabbed a hundred times over!

When Naruto finished his relentless assault on Ikkaku, who was battered, bruised, and bloodied by that time, he stood up to his feet, making sure to keep a firm hold on Ikkaku's throat. "**Uzumaki Naruto's ****R****eikoku ****Ko****ugeki (Naruto Uzumaki's ruthless assault)!** Naruto announced as he squeezed Ikkaku's throat tighter, making him gag for air. "I hope you liked it and thought it was worth it. Because if you didn't, take my advice, never, ever, ever, attack my friend… EVER!" Naruto's eyes hardened dangerously as he whammed his fist so hard into Ikkaku's stomach blood flew out of his mouth.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!" Ikkaku screamed as Naruto sent him flying away, all the way, further way, to the mountains themselves, where Ikkaku's body slammed so hard into the mountain; he created a huge hole in the mountain. And as his body slammed against the damaged mountain, he weakly turned his head to the side having spotted someone else's blood by his side.

He cursed upon seeing an unconscious Rangiku lying next to a knocked out Toshiro. They'd all failed their mission. Ikkaku just knew it as he closed his eyes, allowing the darkness to take over, drifting off into unconscious land.

Naruto huffed and held his chest out. "Punk," Naruto then turned around to face Ogre, to find the short man's hands bloodied up, but his face remained impassive. "Sorry about that Ogre-dude. Heh. I guess you took out the trash too."

Ogre smirked a little, "But of course." Ogre got into a stance. "Let's get this show on the road."

"I couldn't agree more." Naruto searched for his Zanpakuto, which he happened to drop upon assaulting Ikkaku. After he found it, he held it at Ogre with a smirk across his face. "This is going to be so fun."

"For me," Ogre said simply, and with that said, Naruto and Ogre closed the distance between themselves, fully determined to put the other down for the count!

* * *

**Battle at the cemetery **

Goro watched the orange haired man do battle in his shinigami form against a hollow that was awfully familiar, at least to the sadistic Quincy and Masaki. And of course Goro had watched Ichigo cry a little upon making it to his mother's grave. _What a poor guy._Well at least he'd Rukia there for mortal support.

_Rukia! _Goro stood in the treetops watching from afar, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to scoop in and kidnap her. It'd be so easy to, like taking candy from a baby, or in this case, taking an angel from right under a demon's nose.

So easy, Ogre wouldn't even know that he'd made the single dumbest mistake of his life by challenging Uzumaki Naruto to a fight. He must be having fun too, because Goro could sense his spiritual pressure rising along with Naruto's. _The poor fool._His love for battle would be his downfall. It would cost him his precious baby sister.

Of course Rukia was nothing but a shall that held the real prize that Goro was after; or at least desired for his plans to come together. Just thinking about the challenges that would lie ahead once Goro got his hands on little Rukia made his blood tingle.

A piecing scream of pain made Goro turn his head to the battlefield in time to see Ichigo rolling across the floor. "He's struggling." Goro said, amused by it all. He bet Ichigo wished he'd his father backing him up… well… let's just say Goro had dealt with that interference.

Ichigo stabbed his sword into the ground and cursed, "Damn it!"

"Ichigo!" Rukia shouted, but then froze when she felt two hands wrap around her small frame. "Who's there?!" she yelled as she turned around, but saw no one there. 'Why does this keep happening to me?'

A monstrous black creature with a white mask covering his face stood before Ichigo, laughing manically. "Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. I'm finally going to eat you up, little man. I'm going to enjoy it too. Then I'm taking Rukia-chan back with me to Hueco Mundo?"

"What?" Ichigo yelled, shocked by that. "What the hell do you want with Rukia? And how the hell do you know me?" The hollow just grinned evilly at Ichigo, eliciting a growl out of Ichigo.

The truth behind his mother's death and a fight for Rukia is about to begin.

* * *

**All done! **

**Naruto's base form speed = super sonic plus, and the same goes for his Shikai form.**

**Steel mirror barrage = hyper sonic**

**Naruto's Raijin mode speed = speed of lightning... no shit.**

**Ogre's base form = hyper sonic mid speed **

**Ogre's Shikai form = hyper sonic plus speed**

**Naruto's golden animal grand kick move is just a homage of Goku's dragon fist. Same with Naruto's rocket cannon being a homage of Yusuke's spirit gun. **

**And Ogre is based off of...? I'll you guess. Come on. It's easy. Black tattered karate gi, pony tail spiky hair sticking up like it's defying gravity. It's easy. **


	18. A Golden Ticket Ripped From Its Vessel

**Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King, Naruto, or Bleach**

**I'm back. Just. I ****think I'm over my writer's block. So let's see where this goes now.**

* * *

**Chapter 18**

**A Golden Ticket Ripped From Its Vessel **

Ichigo flipped backwards, avoiding a sledgehammer-like-swinging punch from the hollow he was facing off against. He responded by angrily twirling his blade around, thus bashing it as hard as he could into the hollow's head. The hollow roared venomously as it was sent skyrocketing backwards from the force of Ichigo's blow.

Ichigo looked at Rukia, "Hey, Rukia! How's my tou-san doing?"

Rukia looked shaken as she glanced Ichigo's way, "He's out cold Ichigo?" The hollow had quickly dismantled Ichigo's father the moment they stepped onto the cemetery, giving Ichigo little to no time to argue with his father for keeping his mother's heritage away from him.

Which was of course Ichigo's rightful heritage too, If one thought about it.

Ichigo gnashed his teeth, "I swear I'm gonna kill this bastard!"

"Be careful Ichigo." Rukia involuntarily shivered. "I'm getting this bad vibe from somewhere in the air. I think that hollow may be trying something again, but I'm not sure what though."

Ichigo gripped his Zanpakuto with two hands and steadied himself, "This isn't what I needed today," He was hoping to pay his respects to his decease mother with his sisters, which reminded him, "Where the hell are Karin and Yuzu?" A smug Naruto flashed through his mind. "If that bastard Naruto hurt them, I swear I'm gonna murder him!"

Rukia shook her head disapprovingly, "Now is not the time Ichigo! And besides, Naruto loves your sisters, and they love him. You have to get used to that fact, Ichigo. Otherwise you could end up driving your sisters away from you. Now focus, you have a fight to finish!"

Ichigo nodded his head begrudgingly. It really irked him that his twin sisters were in love with one boy, a boy that he hated with a burning passion, and thought was irritating, "I'll have to deal with that later." Ichigo assured to himself as the hollow that he'd knocked away slowly strode over to him. "Who the hell are you? Tell me now damn it!"

The hollow gleamed at him, "I don't know why Goro-san wouldn't let me eat you when I had the chance!"

Ichigo's eyes narrowed dangerously, "Goro? Is that the bastard who attacked Ryosuke the other day ago?!"

The hollow laughed evilly, "That sounds like Goro-san. I can imagine him shooting down his son in cold blood like it was nothing quite well actually."

Rukia and Ichigo's eyes widened from the clarification. Ichigo glowered at the hollow, "What the fuck are you talking about! Answer me now! What kind of father attempts to kill his own son!" His father may be a retard, but Ichigo was positive he wouldn't attempt to massacre him in his sleep, "I swear I'll kill you if you don't start answering my questions!"

The hollow snickered. "Such a demanding young man… I can see why Goro-san took a liking to you." His way of talking creep Rukia and Ichigo out. "As for who I am, you may call me Grand fisher. I'm the hollow who'd a hand in the eradication of your mother, kiddo."

The rage that filled Ichigo's eyes at that point could've floored even the big cheese himself as realization finally hit Rukia, "Grand fisher. Wait! You're that hollow that the soul society's been trying to hunt down for fifty years!"

"So…" Ichigo started in a frighteningly composed voice, "You've been running around like a little fag for how long? All to come across the wrong motherfucker to mess with," Ichigo elucidated darkly, "Is that about right? Answer now, and I may go easy on you."

Grand fisher chuckled amusingly, "Haha! You're quite the comedian. What makes you think you can defeat me, huh? Your mother was a top tier Quincy, how it'd have been nice to absorb her soul."

Grand fisher quickly managed to sway his body to the side just as Ichigo crashed his sword directly at his chest. He received a small gash on his arm for his troubles of last ditch evading, "Well…" Grand fisher started in an unimpressed tone of voice, "Someone's awfully impatient to die. I guess you just want to be with mommy. No matter, you won't be seeing mommy where you're going…Inside of me!"

Ichigo's eyes took on an overshadowed look. "You won't be absorbing me, or anyone else, ever again." He looked at Grand fisher with a cocky smile, "Because I'm about to shove my sword right upside your ass."

Grand fisher smirked, "Such big talk. But then again, I rather like my meals with a bit of back bones to them." He dashed at Ichigo once again, "Preferably with some cheese melted on top."

Ichigo held his sword firmly in front of himself, "Now how should I beat him." Shit. "I got no moves…" Ichigo gnashed his teeth, "I really should've trained more before this," no wonder Naruto kicked his ass so easily, "Bitch… Oh well. I'll just rely on the good ol' (old) instincts," Because it never let him down before. Then after this, Ichigo was taking his ass off to the gym. Or some kind of fencing class. Perhaps a book on sword-fighting may be more beneficial than that though. All in all from this one fight Ichigo started to realize he can't just keep fighting the way he'd been doing.

Rukia bared witness to a ferocious Ichigo swinging his sword around like a madman at the hollow known as Grand fisher. "This isn't good. If Ichigo doesn't think strategically to how he's going to win this fight, this hollow may very well win this fight." Not that Ichigo had a choice this time. She flinched slightly from a tap that fell upon her shoulder, "Can I help yo-." she trailed off as a hand latched itself onto Rukia's face.

Goro smirked, 'Hello, Rukia-san. You must come with me now.' His hand slowly reached for her face, making Rukia's legs turn to jelly as she shut her eyes and let out a terrified scream. Goro thought, covering Rukia's eyes so she wouldn't see him.

"Aaaaaaaaaaah!"

Ichigo snapped his head to Rukia's direction. "Rukiaaaaaaa!" Ichigo shouted but she was gone before he could look. Grand Fisher took advantage of the distraction to wham Ichigo down to the ground.

Ichigo skidded across the solid ground on his back, glowering all the while. "Damn it!" He looked up hatefully at Grand Fisher before searching frantically for Rukia, "This isn't good. I've got to defeat this bastard and go find Rukia."

XxX

(Urahana-shop)

XxX

"You Idiot, Kisuke!" Yoruichi shouted at Kisuke venomously, causing him to wince. "Do you know how embarrassed I felt when Tomoyo-chan said she didn't even know about the captains probably targeting Whiskers-kun and his friends?!"

Kisuke waved his hands around in a placating manner, "In my defence, I did have a very good reason to forget about phoning her," Yoruichi blushed slightly at what he was implying.

She wouldn't be sitting on his lap again that was for sure.

"Pervert…" she whispered with a twitching eyebrow before shaking her head and smirking animally, "Never mind that though. We've got three kids to save!"

At that moment little Ururu chose to inject after walking in with the red headed boy and huge servant by her side, "Ryosuke-kun's spiritual pressure has disappeared!"

Yoruichi gasped, "What? Are you sure about that?" Ururu nodded dejectedly, making Yoruichi curse out loud, "Damn it Kisuke! If that boy happens to be dead, I'm making sure you'll be gone from existence at the speed of light!" She shouted, making Kisuke wince before she calmed down and realized she shouldn't have said that as Ururu looked down, "Sorry Ururu. I know how much that boy means to you."

Ururu nodded shyly, "It's okay, Yoruichi-san. I hope Ryosuke-kun'll be alright."

Jinta patted her on her shoulder consolingly, "Hey, maybe there's a slight chance Ryosuke-niichan's still alive. I mean, he is a shinigami just like those other shinigami sent to fight him and the others."

Yoruichi remembered what she and Kisuke had discussed yesterday, "That's right. Kisuke and I predicted that probably Yoh-sama wants to test Whiskers-kun and his friends' abilities," she saw the kids' eyes lit up at that, "It could be possible. Jinta, Ururu, find out where Ryosuke lives, and go see if he's still alive!"

Jinta banged his chest, "Yes madam!"

"What'll you do, Yoruichi-san?" Ururu asked curiously.

Yoruichi let a feral smirk spread across her face, "Kisuke and I are heading off to the battlefield to assist Whiskers-kun and Ichigo-san."

"Yeah!" Kisuke shouted before blinking, "We are?"

"Yes you moron!" Yoruichi yelled back irritably.

Kisuke laughed nervously, "Well you see-…"

"See what?" Yoruichi questioned impatiently, cutting off Kisuke.

"I kind of overheard your conversation with ma Lady, and I-…"

"Stop being a wuss and c'mon!" Yoruichi again cut off Kisuke with a thunderous tone in her voice, making him whine, "If it troubles you that much then you can go help Ichigo, while I help Naruto then!"

"Man boss that's low," Jinta grumbled with his arms crossed over his chest.

"I guess not everyone's perfect." Ururu said timidly.

"Even Kisuke-dono has his fears," Even Tessai chimed in, all in all making Kisuke feel pretty low as an aura of gloom surrounded his head.

Yoruichi sighed, "Let's get this show on the road then."

XxX

(Naruto vs Ogre)

XxX

"You're a pretty fast guy, Ogre." Naruto commented as he stood coated in a powerful aura of blue that would even floor most B-rank lieutenants just being close to him, "I'm struggling to keep up with ya here."

Ogre scoffed, "This is merely child's play, Uzumaki." Ogre had a few cuts on his face as Naruto managed to instinctually dodge his speedy attacks and retaliate in kind. Naruto himself wasn't by all means fresh as a Daisy, he still had that nasty scar he received via taking a slash across the bridge of his nose to grab Ogre in a bear hug of sorts to deliver a super spear from way up in the sky after Ogre and Naruto had taken it there.

Naruto let a feral grin spread across his whiskered-face. "Is that so, hotshot?" The ground vibrated epically as Naruto increased the power of his aura ten-folds, "Then whaddya say we continue our little party, Ogre?"

A monstrous smile appeared on Ogre's demonic features, "This power… magnificent. I will ravish destroying you, Uzumaki." The devilish purple-coloured huge wings that spouted behind Ogre's back stretched out as the entire upper part of his karate gi was torn off from the explosive battle between him and Naruto, "Let us resume our battle…"

"With pleasure…" Was Naruto's simple response before leaning his body to the side as he knew Ogre would faze out and attempt to slash his head off with his battle-axe Zanpakuto, and the demonic shinigami didn't disappoint as he did just that. "Ha-ha. I predicted wher-." Naruto's attempt to boast was silenced by a spinning back fist to his face from Ogre, sending him flying across the ruined forest tremendously, "Guess I should wait before I open my mouth again."

"Maybe you should." Ogre said simply, holding his hand out and sticking out his left index finger to channel his power, "**Hado: Number 33, soukatsui!****" **As a blue bolt of concentrated spirit energy flew out of Ogre's finger, the already shattered ground busted into small rubbles of rocks, forcing Naruto to do swift manoeuvres in mid-air to avoid being blasted by Ogre's move.

After dodging that by the skin of his fangs, Naruto used his steel mirror barrage to get behind Ogre with a chain of after-images trailing in his wake. "Hey, bitch, have some of this!" Naruto swung his oversized Kanji-laboured Zanpakuto at Ogre with ferocity, gritting his fangs angrily as Ogre vanished from sight again! "Goddamn it! How can I hit him if he keeps disappearing on some ghost-shit?" On that note Naruto followed Ogre's example by vanishing also with the after-images of himself dancing around the air as he did.

Good thing he did as well because Ogre had reappeared directly in front of Naruto in a bid to confuse the blond-lightning wielder. However, Ogre began pursuing every single Naruto-afterimage within the radius via a mazy blur. For the most part it looked like a black blur dashing from one image of the wolf-boy to the next that strangely resembled a game of connect the dots.

Taking his chance with Ogre distracted on his after-images, Naruto dashed to the side of Ogre who was seemingly unaware of his presence and twirled his glowing sword around skilfully before throwing it at Ogre's kidneys!

But Ogre managed to anticipate this, and done a cartwheel over Naruto's sword before firmly implanting his feet into Naruto's face resoundingly, forcing the lad to go through a series of rolls as he soared away from Ogre from the power he put into his double-kick on Naruto.

"Your speed's insignificant to mine. I have this all but won, Uzumaki." Ogre said emotionlessly.

Naruto's grin turned feral, "You think so, eh?"

Ogre quirked an eyebrow, "I know so, Uzumaki. Unless you have a Bankai that drastically increases your speed to the point you'll be able to speed blitz me, I don't see the slimmest chance that you'll be able to subdue me."

Naruto's smile twisted into a goofy one, "You could say it like that Ogre my man!" Ogre looked at Naruto with a confused expression on his features before the blond roared loudly, "**Feast ya' eyes on the pinnacle of all lightning powers, bitch! Full powered Raijin mode!" **Naruto's arms were threw up in the air as a ring of lightning formed around his feet and travelled all the way up his body, slowly developing his entire form in an overwhelming shiny glow so bright it forced the stunned Ogre to cover his face with his arm to prevent himself from going blind. Letting out one final ear-deafening scream Naruto caused a resounding tremor to epically quake the ground underneath his feet that was the equivalent of ten giants stomping on the ground.

"…Incredible."

XxX

(Spirit World – Manta's office)

XxX

Manta, who'd been watching the two powerhouses slug it out after effortlessly defeating the squad he's dispatched to defeat them all, was trembling at the sight of Naruto's tremendous power, "…S-Such u-unbelievable s-spiritual p-pressure! The only ones who could stand up to that and still have a chance of winning would be Zaraki-san, Urohana-san, Aizen-san, and the other High A-rank class shinigami."

Of course Yamamoto would be able to stand up to Naruto and beat him in his ridiculous mode. But that guy was different class… it wasn't a fair comparison.

Manta felt tired as well as stunned as all hell. This'd been a long day for the little man. First he'd to file a report telling Anna-sama how Ryosuke had reached High B-rank lieutenant level but still lost to Ikkaku. And he'd made a request to have Toshiro and his team picked up by three shinigami fresh from the academy after their utter defeats by Naruto and Ogre's hands. It'd be good experience for them as long as they avoided the fight, (much like an all-out war), between Naruto and Ogre.

Manta shockingly turned his head to the scanner that read Naruto's power level while he powered up into Raijin mode. "I-It c-can't d-decide whether h-he's a l-low S-rank shinigami or high A-rank one." Manta fell back onto his seat involuntarily, "…What. Is. He…?"

XxX

(Soul Society – Seireitei – Yamamoto)

XxX

An old man was sitting within a big brown room with a brown coffee table, a purple pillow which he sat on his knees on said pillow, and a cup of tea in his hand. He was bald with a long white goatee complimented by his long white eyebrows, white moustache, and white sideburns.

He wore a black shihakusho over his fairly short but bulky body, (for an old man anyway), a white haori over the black shihakusho to signify his rank as captain, and white geta sandals were on his feet.

He opened his closed eyes slightly, rubbing his chin sagely while holding what appeared to be a wooden cane in his hand at first glance. "What a fascinating power this is… the young ones never cease to amaze me. Maybe that particular town won't need as much protection from the shinigami assigned to watch over it."

This wise old man filled with power and wisdom sensed Naruto's power from the Soul Society, which was particularly impressive considering the fact most shinigami wouldn't even be able to feel Naruto's spiritual energy even from a close distance to the blond-wolf boy.

Different class.

XxX

(Elsewhere among the Soul Society – Location Unknown)

XxX

A handsome man with curly brown hair was strolling around the Soul Society casually with a girl half his size with black hair tied in one bun. The bespectacled man wore a black shihakusho like the girl only he also had on a white haori to signify his rank as a captain of the royal court guard squad.

He suddenly stopped and looked off into the distance with his eyes narrowed.

The girl picked up on this, "What wrong Captain Aizen-sama?"

Aizen turned away from the sky, looking at the girl with a gentle smile on his face. "It's nothing Momo-chan. I was just admiring the weather."

The girl now known as Momo smiled brightly as she observed the clear blue sky with the sun lighting up the world of the dead in a radiant glow, "It really is a beautiful day today. It makes me feel happy to be here."

Aizen cupped Momo's cheek tenderly, caressing her smooth face lovingly, "None more so than you my dear." A blush stained Momo's cheeks from her idol's praise of her, bringing a hearty laugh from the humble captain as she turned away from him, "Dear Momo-chan, it's okay to be relaxed around me. We have known each other for quite a while now," Momo nodded slowly, strolling on forward while Aizen remained behind.

For a split second, Aizen's emotions dropped as he looked at the sky again seriously, narrowing his eyes underneath his glasses, 'Not surprising to say the least... but this turn of events is fairly intriguing. I wonder how it'll all pla-.'

"What're you waiting for, Aizen-sama?!" Momo's voice brought Aizen's out of his thoughts, getting the tiniest flinches out of the man that when unnoticed.

"Coming my dear." The calm smile returned to Aizen's face as he flash-stepped to Momo's side speedily, making Momo's flinch as she hadn't witnessed Aizen move at all.

'Aizen-kun's so cool and powerful. I didn't even see him move at all then.' Momo thought with a cherry red blush on her face. She wouldn't dare call her captain 'kun' out loud.

He was her superior through and through.

Aizen chuckled lightly as the two begin their walk once again.

XxX

(Karin and Yuzu)

XxX

The two Kurosaki twins were running to try and warn their father and brother about the threat of Goro but stopped as Karin sensed that their father had been rendered unconscious and Ichigo was battling for his life against some hollow with overwhelming strength. For a hollow that was.

They were sitting on a bench at the bottom of a huge hill wondering what they'd do now when suddenly Karin held her head with a pained expression on her face.

"Karin-chan what's wrong?" Yuzu asked worriedly, touching her sister's shoulder.

"N-Naruto's p-power…" Karin struggled to say amidst the raging headache caused by her senses being overloaded by Naruto's spiritual pressure rising incredibly, "-It just when through the roof!"

A gasp escaped Yuzu's mouth. "But that's a good thing right Karin-chan. That means there's a chance we can all come out of this alive!"

"I hope so, sis. I hope so."

XxX

(Yoruichi and Kisuke)

XxX

Yoruichi and Kisuke were flash-stepping from rooftop to rooftop with incredible speed until they dropped onto one since Naruto's physical body was left on it with his spirit badge and phone with it.

Kisuke swung it over his shoulder while Yoruichi looked off into the distance thoughtfully, "Can you sense that Kisuke?"

Kisuke nodded with a gravely serious expression on his face. No games this time. "Yeah… But just barely though."

Yoruichi let a cat-grin spread across her face. "Whiskers-kun sure is something else. He makes me feel old."

Kisuke allowed a big goofy smile to almost split his face off, "Well now, we can't be having the kids showing us up like that can we my dear." Taking out his fan he pulled out of nowhere, Kisuke fanned himself foolishly.

"I guess not." Yoruichi smiled but turned serious again. "Okay, change of plans. Whiskers-kun obviously doesn't need our help, so let's head straight for Ichigo-san's location!"

"As you wish!"

XxX

(Naruto v Ogre)

XxX

Naruto couldn't keep the animal smirk from spreading across his face as he stood shrouded in a thunderous aura of lightning while his entire body was shrouded in the same condensed lightning that covered the whole ruined forest with sparks of lightning radiating off of Naruto's body, "How do ya like me now, Ogre?" Naruto asked, sword stabbing into the ground as he leaned on it with overflowing confidence surging through his veins.

The wide eyed Ogre spoke up, awe in his voice, "Never in a million years did I ever think a mere human could possess this kind of strength!" Ogre murmured. "But it makes sense. After all, you have one of the most powerful Zanpakutos ever created."

Naruto had a curious expression on his blue-empowered-with lightning whisker-marked face, "Really?" Ogre nodded and Naruto shrugged. "Is that what I get for eating my ramen every day or something?"

Ogre almost face-faulted, but he quickly recovered and looked at Naruto with a twitch in his eye. "You have quite the unusual imagination Uzumaki."

Naruto took that as a compliment from his devilish opponent, "Well thank you Ogre. I do try my best to troll people and prank 'em good. Yep! And if I can't do that I'll just beat the shit out of 'em! So either way, it's win-win for me!"

Ogre actually felt a bead of sweat roll off of the back of his head, 'He is probably the dumbest creature I've ever met. Ever.' Ogre wondered how other people dealt with Uzumaki Naruto's antics, since he'd been showing a lot of emotion in this fight. Emotions he hadn't felt since before he was forced to leave his baby sister behind.

"Shall we resume our fight Uzumaki?" Ogre decided to get down to business. Whatever speed Uzumaki obtained from his latest power-up still wouldn't be enough to defeat him. "In the end this latest development will prove futile. But at the very least I can get the fight I've always longed for since my days in the Soul Society."

Naruto let out a huff of arrogance. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't intrigued by Ogre's past, but that could wait for another time.

Fighting comes first on Naruto Uzumaki's list.

Naruto rested his hand on his sword leisurely, "Let's roll then." With that uttered, Naruto simply vanished from Ogre's sight as if he'd teleported, making Ogre gasp for the first time since he last fought Zaraki. Naruto reappeared in front of Ogre as if he'd been standing there the whole time. His sword still implanted into the ground and all. The only thing that let Ogre know Naruto had moved was the ground that suddenly shattered two seconds after Naruto had reappeared in front of Ogre due to the sword that was dragged through it blindingly.

"Now that's what I cal-." Ogre began to say, but a one-bomb punch from Naruto quickly silenced him and sent him sprawling away immensely, 'I couldn't even see him move!' Ogre thought through gritted teeth as the air hit his face.

Naruto rushed off again, easily getting behind Ogre before the man even had time to crash into the ground after taking Naruto's first of many blows. Flipping backwards, Naruto slammed his feet ferociously into Ogre's spine and knocked him into the sky, causing Ogre to cry out in pain.

Leaving a streak of lightning that looked like came out of the ground, Naruto flew into the sky, flying to the side of Ogre before the Raijin-boy side-kicked Ogre and sent the purple-haired man travelling to the left. Naruto sent him back to the right after roundhouse-kicking Ogre to the back of his head with ferocity. And Naruto regurgitated his attack on Ogre only this time he knocked Ogre to the North-East direction of the sky.

And that occurrence continued at such a blinding pace it looked as if Ogre was frozen in thin air while dots of lightning surrounded his body that was being connected by steaks of lightning. Ogre was in such excruciating pain that he struggled to hold onto his battle-axe while Naruto continuously pummelled him mercilessly.

'Can't… take… much… more… of… this…' Ogre thought painstakingly, barely managing to open his eye to see a blur dizzying around him amazedly, 'This… kid… is-.' His thought trailed off right there as the air and a bucket load of blood left his lungs and mouth respectively, launching him out of the sky and towards a nearby ocean while Naruto hovered in the place he once was with his hands stabbed out as if he'd pushed someone off of the street.

"That'll show ya who the fastest one on this planet is!" Naruto quipped as he pointed at himself, "Numero uno, Uzumaki Naruto. Fuck yeah!" The water splashed into the air as Ogre crashed straight into the water, making Naruto flinch, "Whattt. I didn't realize I hit ya so hard chump!"

XxX

(Bottom of the Ocean – Ogre)

XxX

As Ogre sank to the bottom of the ocean, bruises covering parts of his body he didn't even know he had, shiners underneath his crimson red eyes, and blood all over his busted open body, he began to feel sentimental. Feeling nostalgic after taking an ass-kicking… wow, this guy was fucked up.

'The last one to ever beat me this bad was: Zaraki-san.' Ogre thought impassively, his long purple hair falling to his battered back after Uzumaki had forced it down with his relentless beating on Ogre. 'Well I wanted a fight just like this. And now I have it. Prepare yourself, Uzumaki. I'm going Bankai!"

As he said that his skin started to peel off of him sickeningly, revealing strange dark-coloured purple flames as he hit the bottom of the ocean with an empty thud. With his body being encompassed in a sphere of devilish purple energy, Ogre simply uttered the words: "**Release All Hell Down Below: Kumori!"**

XxX

(With Naruto)

XxX

"I wonder if I should help hi-." Naruto began to contemplate whether or not Ogre needed help getting out. He wasn't a killer. A delinquent? Oh yeah! A pervert? You better believe he is. But a murderer? Fuck no!

*SPLASH*

Naruto didn't have too long to dwell on it because the water literally exploded into the air like one massive eruption of a volcano, "Holy shit!" Naruto's jaw dropped feeling the malicious intent radiating off of Ogre. He gulped a little nervously as part of the ocean itself seemingly vaporized with sickening stream flowing through the air, allowing a huge bird-like silhouette to fly out of the ocean and into the sky.

'This… feeling I'm getting from that thing… it's so devilish.' Naruto thought as the Phoenix-Ogre spread its giant purple wings out and roared in all its glory, his humongous flaming purple body blocking the sun itself, "Well someone's sure become a tiny, quiet mouse!" Naruto quipped sarcastically, holding his ears from the noise.

Ogre merely lifted up his wing, his pace significantly slower now, and swung it at Naruto, getting the boy to raise his arm up to block. A big shockwave created a huge-ass crater above Raijin-Naruto and Phoenix Ogre despite the fact the two were in the air.

"Guess you're not Speedy Gonzales anymore." Naruto said with a strained smirk on his face as his vastly smaller arm compared to Ogre's huge wing held it back with effort. 'But the bitch has become a lot stronger…"

"**My speed may be gone but my durability and strength have increased ten folds… Uzumaki. You're done." **Ogre stated in a deep, gruffly, deathly tone of voice.

Naruto smirked beastly, sheathing his sword into its scabbard on his back. "I'll be the judge of that Ogre dude!" Flipping all the way up, Naruto latched his two hands onto a piece of Ogre's neck, his hands scorching slightly as he did, before hurling the humongous bird-creature farther across the ocean.

As the waters blew forcefully to the side by the phoenix being chucked across it furiously, Naruto took the time to examine his slightly burned hand. "My hand's burned a bit. My Raijin aura must've protected me." Naruto held his sword at the ready after unsheathing it again, "No matter… I'll just have to cut this overgrown birdie to ribbons then!"

Naruto vanished from sight and reappeared in front of Phoenix-Ogre just as the man managed to regain his balance. Naruto spun around skilfully, beautifully executing a spinning slash at Ogre's wing that the man fought head-on in kind, resulting in a huge shockwave that separated the ocean like a messiah had led his people through it after uttering some magic words.

Naruto disappeared immediately, reappearing airborne above Ogre spinning wildly, aiming to slice into Ogre like butter. Ogre foresaw this through his now deep devilish coal black eyes, and prepared himself accordingly, charging a dark red ball of spirit energy in his huge mouth before firing off a mini blast-shaped sphere that was still the size of a small house at Naruto.

"YO!" Naruto shouted in shock as he vanished out of the line of fire and let the death ball of energy fly into space. He'd no time to relax as the Phoenix began to fire a continuous barrage of the heat-dome like blasts of energy at Naruto like bullets, forcing Naruto to vanish repeatedly to avoid being nuked.

Tons upon tons of dark red heat domes-like energy blasts appeared all over the ocean as Naruto disappeared and reappeared each time a new one occurred. Getting sick of the repetitive game, Naruto twisted his body around and launched himself at one of the death balls of energy while charging spirit energy into his leg aggressively, turning it into a golden one.

"**Kin animaru gouka keru ****(Golden animal grand kick)!****"**

The smoking hot water reflected the golden glow of Naruto's move while the tiger with sharp canines morphed over his leg and charged through the death ball of power, ripping through Ogre's body and slamming the giant bird-like creature away from him.

"How'd you like that you bitch!"

Ogre managed to slow his momentum excruciatingly, his giant body oozing blood caused by Naruto's devastating kick to his abdomen. '**Even in this form the boy's still causing me trouble… he. Is. Not. Normal.' **Ogre concluded as he felt his muscles straining to sustain his Phoenix form. '**I don't have a lot of time left in this form. I must destroy him now.' **Ogre steadied himself as he stretched his mouth open, charging his power up, which caused the water to swirl around as if a tsunami was happening.

Naruto understood what he was doing. "So, you wanna end it do ya?" Naruto smirked savagely, sheathing his sword onto his back while holding his other hand into the air leading with his right index finger, "Your funeral." A powerful roar erupted from Naruto's lungs, causing the blue glow lighting up his form to snake its way up his body, revealing his battered and bruised body, "I'M PUTTING EVERYTHING I'VE GOT INTO THIS ONE LAST SHOT, BEST BE PREPARED!" The aura and glow that made up Naruto's Raijin mode left his body and travelled into his right index finger, making a giant condensed ball of lightning the size of a mountain develop on his finger, radiating with power!

Ogre's own destructive ball of energy was just as big as Naruto's.

The end was coming!

(20 minutes earlier – With Karin and Yuzu near the cemetery)

"Karin-chan! Just try to hold on a little longer!" Yuzu pleaded.

Karin held her head with a pained expression on her face. "It's not just Naruto, it's also Ichigo, and that Ogre overloading my senses," Karin fell off of the bench and onto her knees, clutching her forehead, "Damn it! How long is it going to take for them to resolve this!"

Before Yuzu could give an answer, an utter calmness came over Karin and Yuzu, as if the fighting had suddenly ceased. "What's this?" Yuzu asked curiously, seeing a barely visible bubble of sorts around her and Karin.

"It's a barrier young lady," A voice spooked Karin and Yuzu, making them look up to see two people, a serious looking man with eyes shadowed by his green stripped hat, and a beautiful dark-skinned woman with Naruto on the man's shoulder.

"Naruto-kun!" Yuzu shouted. "Please tell me he's okay!"

"Calm down little one. Whiskers-kun is still engaged in battle with Ogre. This is just his body," Yoruichi explained enormity, making Yuzu nod with a curious tilt of her pretty head at the nickname she gave Naruto, which in return made Yoruichi rub her neck sheepishly, "Well Whiskers-kun and I are good friends. He actually calls me 'Cat-Lady-chan'. But I'm actually Yoruichi."

Yuzu could see why with those golden slits she calls 'eyes'. "Oh, well I'm Yuzu and this is Karin-chan." She greeted, pointing to her sister who felt a whole lot better than she did five minutes ago.

Kisuke kneeled down to the girls' level and looked at Karin, "Are how you feeling now? And I'm Urahana Kisuke by the way."

Karin removed her hand from her head and blinked, "I actually feel a lot better, like my spiritual awareness has been cut off or something." Karin poked at the barrier, "Is it because of this."

Kisuke nodded, once again pulling out his fan to cover his foolish smile. "Can you believe a mere humble shopkeeper such as myself could create such a magnificent barrier that not only negates spiritual pressure but also keeps any of it from getting in?" He laughed victoriously, "And they said I was a lunatic! I'll have 'em know I trained one of the most powerful shinigamis alive!" He pointed at Naruto's empty shell.

Karin felt a bead of sweat run down her head, "Righttttt. So then I take it you two are here to help Ichigo out." Karin said, sitting back up on the bench with her twin sister Yuzu. Yoruichi and Kisuke both nodded, "Why didn't one of you go off to help Naruto?"

"Naruto doesn't need the help?" Kisuke explained honestly, "Well he may need help walking afterwards, but for now he'll be fine. Ichigo's the one I'm worried about now!"

As soon as he said that a huge wave of condensed blue spirit energy skyrocketed from Ichigo's location shaped in the form of a crescent. The half-moon-shaped wave of spirit energy travelled all the way over to two abandoned buildings conventionally enough. Luckily it did too, because as soon as the wave of spirit energy hit the buildings, it expended and triggered an explosion that took on the form of a big sphere that eradicated the buildings and left a crater in its wake.

From the awe looks of Yoruichi and Kisuke, Karin smirked before saying…

"…You were saying."

XxX

(Moments Earlier - Ichigo v Grand-Fisher)

XxX

"Tell me what the hell are your plans for Rukia and where she is right now, you bastard!" Ichigo demanded as he pushed against Grand-Fisher's arm.

Grand-Fisher would've chuckled if he weren't having such a difficult time fending off Ichigo, 'I've played my part. Even if I lose I'll still get him anyway.' At least that was what Goro had told him when he found him this morning and told him about Ichigo. At first Grand-Fisher was in debrief that the little boy he nearly absorbed when he was nine or so could become so overwhelmingly powerful, but then he felt excited at the prospect of gaining such power from Ichigo the way he is now.

Choosing to play the dangerous game, Ichigo quickly stabbed his sword into the ground and grabbed at Grand-Fisher's hand, relying on his Karate-skills to Karate-chop the monstrous hollow away, "And what!? Get out of my face! I have to find Rukia!"

Grand-Fisher rolled to a stop, standing up to his feet with a sneer, "You're better than I thought you were… Ichigo." He said tauntingly, getting Ichigo to huff arrogantly, "It's just like that woman said. I've been on the run from the shinigami for fifty years! That means whatever you do will be utterly useless in the end... you cannot defeat me!"

Ichigo looked at Grand-Fisher weirdly, suddenly believing that was a load of bullshit. "Ooookay! Does that mean I'm a top-tier warrior among the shinigami then? Because based on this fight _alone_ you dodging the shinigami for fifty years seem like utter bullshit to me."

"Why you little-," Grand-Fisher snarled out before taking a breath to recompose himself, "Do you remember the eventful day when your mother died kid? You should do, because I spoke about this earlier." Ichigo flinched and Grand-Fisher smirked monstrously, "Remember that girl you heroically ran off to save kiddo."

Ichigo's eyes widened as he began to put the pieces together, "That… was you, motherfucker?"

Grand-Fisher grinned fiendishly, "One could say that." A bright glow appeared before Grand-Fisher, making Ichigo grit his teeth angrily seeing the little girl whom he attempted to save that day on his mother's death. "You see little man… anyone whom I absorb stays in my being for all eternity. I can project their images with my spiritual energy to trick idiot people such as you into thinking they're in dangerous situations to lure them into my trap!"

Ichigo felt low, "No. It's my fault." Ichigo began to berate himself, "I killed kaa-san for real… how can my sisters look me in the eyes knowing I led kaa-san to her death… kaa-san no, please forgive me for being a terrible son… I couldn't protect you." Ichigo fell to his knees and pounded the ground belligerently, "NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!"

Grand-Fisher laughed in a sinister manner, watching Ichigo breaking down with pleasure in his empty eyes, "Yes! You incompetent little worm! You fell for my trap like the fool that you are! If you have to blame anyone for your kaa-san's death then blame yourself, you fool!" Ichigo was on the verge of tears, and Grand-Fisher knew it. Shaking his head at the pathetic young man in front of him, Grand-Fisher chided sickeningly, "Your kaa-san would be so shame."

As if that were the nail in an already buried coffin, Ichigo felt his wounded heart shatter into pieces, "Kaa-san…" his voice was empty as he stopped pounding away at the ground, "I… know I got you killed… I hoped you'd forgive me… but I guess that was optimistic thinking." Ichigo admitted meekly.

Grand-Fisher slowly began walking over to the defeated Ichigo, as if he stalking his prey, "Surrender. Ichigo Kurosaki. It's the only way you can redeem yourself for your failure to protect your kaa-san. It is your fault she died. Come. To. Me."

Ichigo rose to his feet slowly, "Yes. I wouldn't even be able to protect my family or friends anyway. They don't need me. I couldn't even protect Rukia. How can I protect my friends, when I couldn't even protect my own kaa-san?"

Grand-Fisher licked his lips, "Oh yes, Ichigo, you're so right. Now come to m-."

"NO!"

Ichigo's head shot up like an automatic chair at the sound of a very familiar voice, "Rukia!" The little lady sprinted over to him in her usual blue dress that reached her ankles, looking like nothing had happened to her other than the sweat that covered her face obviously made by her running to Ichigo as fast as she could. "Are you alright? How'd y-?" Ichigo never got the chance to finish because Rukia jumped up and smacked him across his face, much to his immediate confusion and then chagrin.

"YOU STUPID IDIOT, DON'T LET A HOLLOW BREAK YOUR SPIRIT LIKE THAT!" Rukia berated him.

Ichigo gave Rukia an annoyed look. "Hey, don't be hitting me like that? You little midget! It's not my fault I can't do shit!"

Rukia was pulling her hair out in exasperation, "You ignorance reaches no boundaries, Ichigo! You've been fighting well with him the whole time!"

Ichigo's eyes widened, "But I couldn't protect you from whatever happened to you though!"

"I'm fine now, aren't I?" Rukia replied matter-of-factly, getting Ichigo to look at her curiously, "Don't ask." She didn't even know what happened to her, herself. It was weird. One moment she was watching Ichigo fight Grand-Fisher, and the next she woke up in the middle of the forest feeling like her Gigai just got hundred times more lighter. And it all occurred after that tap on her shoulder.

Shaking her head, Rukia insisted softly, "You've done a splendid job at protecting the dead souls of the former living Ichigo, even better than Ryosuke and Naruto. Don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise."

That got Ichigo to release a gasp, 'I've done better than Ryosuke-san and Uzumaki-san.' Ichigo thought in shock. That got his confidence to raise even just a little. "Thank you… Rukia."

"No worries, Ichigo." Rukia dismissed it nonchalantly, pointing at Grand-Fisher who was staring at _her _in confusion. "Go purify that hollow Ichigo, and release those souls from him. Once he gets purified the soul he absorbed will be free to venture to the Soul Society!"

Ichigo nodded fiercely, grabbing his huge broadsword out of the ground to hold it at the ready, "Right!"

'What's going on? Goro-sama said he'd leave Rukia in the forest for me to feast on… did she beat him? No, he'd be too powerful for her to beat.' Grand-Fisher thought before clenching his fist tightly, "You foolish boy! You won't defeat me!"

Before Ichigo could response to Grand-Fisher, a calm voice spoke to him in his head, "**Are you ready to stop whining and fight now, boy."**

Ichigo scowled at the voice, "Who are you?!"

"Grand-Fisher, dumbass," Grand-Fisher introduced himself. "Have you become too scared to even remember my name? Pathetic."

"**Don't listen to him boy. Just answer my question. Are you ready to fight and be strong?" **The voice asked again in Ichigo's head, full of wisdom and experience.

Ichigo blinked dumbly, 'Well, yeah, I am pops. Just who are you?"

'He must talking to his Zanpakuto?' Rukia realized.

"**We don't have much time boy," **The voice responded and instantly contradicted that by pulling Ichigo into a wide berth of space with tons of upside down buildings and skyscrapers, "**We meet at last."**

"Wow, who are you? What is this place? How the hell did you bring me here bastard!?" Ichigo questioned belligerently, looking around frantically at the clear blue sky.

The bespectacled man that stood on the tallest skyscraper was lanky, had long brown hair that reached to his upper back, had slight facial hair on his chin and underneath his nose, and wore a grey dressed shirt that looked tattered as it flapped in the non-exist wind in the weird place he pulled Ichigo into. His entire slender form was covered by a black trench jacket with the edges looking torn as it too blew in a wind that didn't even seem to exist in this world.

Ichigo calm down to look at this strange man whose hands seemed consistently stabbed into his pockets, "What's going on old man? Just what happened?"

"**Disappointing… You've used me so much in your battles, and you don't even know who I am." **The man said calmly.

"The fuck are you talking about old man?" Ichigo asked rudely, "I fight with a Zanpakuto, not an old man-."

"…**Precisely**." He cut off Ichigo, "**I. Am. Your. Zanpakuto**."

Ichigo's eyes widened as he took an involuntarily step back. What'd that mean? He was using an old man to cut bitches up, and purify their asses to the soul society? Unreal… "How is that possible though? I've always used this sword to fight with!" Ichigo held up his broadsword for emphasis, "Are you saying you're this in weapon-form!? That's crazy!"

"**That's more or less it**." The spirit man admitted before charging the subject. "**We don't have much time Ichigo. Do you wish to battle with me and use some of my power, or do you desire to use my power for evil purposes?"**

"No. Hell no! I will use all the strength available to me to protect everyone!" Ichigo shouted resolutely, making the man stare long and hard at him before he finally spoke up.

"**Good. Then hear my name. Just remember once you do your spiritual pressure will increase exponentially," **Ichigo smirked cockily, he'd be able to show Naruto whose was boss for sure with this power… and protect his precious people. Cannot forget that… "**Hear my name Kurosaki Ichigo…**!"

XxX

**(**Outside World)

XxX

"Ichigo! Ichigo!" Rukia shouted as Ichigo's body literally shutdown on itself and his body dropped while his sword remained tight in his hand. "Of all the times to pass out, he chooses now!"

Grand-Fisher saw his chance for victory, "Oh yes! Now he's mine!" He rushed Rukia and the unprepared Ichigo as fast as he could. "He's mine for the taking bitch!"

Rukia stood in front of Ichigo with her arms held out to the side protectively, "Stay away from Ichigo!"

Unfortunately she was no match for Grand-Fisher without her powers as the hollow bullied her over with the flick of his arm, sending her sprawling across the dirt ground.

"Ichigo, wake up dummy!" Rukia cried.

Grand-Fisher licked his lips as he gleamed at the non-responsive Ichigo, "I should've eaten you long ago, little man. Now you are mind. Prepare to become apart of greatness." Rukia felt tears well up inside of her eyes as Grand-Fisher opened his mouth and prepared to absorb Ichigo.

"ICHIGO!"

**BOOM!**

Rukia's heartfelt moment was interrupted by a powerful burst of spiritual pressure that literally exploded from Ichigo, forcing Grand-Fisher back from the magnitude of the eruption of epic power. The ground was shattered as a shiny blue-coloured aura surfaced around Ichigo's body while he held his new shaped Zanpakuto in his hand as his eyes were overshadowed by the bangs of his hair.

"I-Ichigo…" Rukia stammered from her place on her knees, finding it hard to breath around Ichigo's overwhelming spiritual pressure.

Isshin began to stir, "Whoa…" He stared wide eyed at the glowing Ichigo while his son held a sword that didn't even have a handle and had a curved shape to it, kind of like a shark in a way. And one side was black while the curve part of the blade was silver in colour, giving it a badass look. "W-What I-incredible spiritual p-pressure."

XxX

(Spirit World – Manta's Office)

XxX

Manta immediately switched over the channel as the scanner on his table multiplied number rapidly, signifying an epic increase in power, "Such incredible power… he's even more powerful than most lieutenants now," Stronger than Rangiku was sure. Good thing she was defeated before then otherwise Ichigo would've eradicated her.

Manta wasn't even surprised when he saw the hollow known as Grand-Fisher, "Not even someone as experienced as him will be able to get away now," Manta sighed. "…I seriously need a break."

XxX

(Cemetery - Ichigo v Grand-Fisher)

XxX

"…**Zangetsu**, old man." Ichigo regurgitated coolly, standing casually while encompassed in absolute power. Ichigo looked at Rukia caringly, "Are you okay, Rukia?"

"Ichigo." Rukia wailed.

Ichigo rolled his eyes, "Bitch please. If I wanted the crocodile tears, I'd chill with Yuzu."

Rukia got a tick mark on her head, "Shut up, baka! I'm trying to have a moment here!"

Ichigo gave Rukia a deadpan look. "Oh really, and what would that be princess? Bawling like a baby because your prince charming looked like he was about to get slaughtered."

Rukia jumped up, suddenly forgetting about the effects of Ichigo's spiritual pressure as if her anger allowed her to be immune to it so she could scowl at the orange haired man. "Hey, at least I wasn't the one bitching, 'I'm too weak. I can't protect my friends. I need Rukia to give me a kick in the ass to woken my fighting spirit again' dummy!"

Ichigo flinched, "At least I'm not a dismal in distress!"

"No, you're a cry-baby!"

"Damsel in distress!"

"Cry-baby!"

"Damsel in distress!"

Cry-baby!"

Isshin watched his powerful son and Rukia interact with his eyes blinking comically, "I'm so proud of my son. He's already arguing with his chosen future wife!"

"Mind your own business/Not that's the case!" Ichigo and Rukia shouted in simultaneous respective order, making Isshin chuckle foolishly before the two returned to glaring harshly at each other. Ichigo then stopped and looked at his downed father with concern in his eyes.

"Are you okay, tou-san?"

"Yes, I'm fine son." Isshin replied before pointing weakly at the frozen Grand-Fisher, "I was caught off guard. No worries though. Your old man will be A-Okay with a little rest. Now go kick that hollow-ass already! Avenge your kaa-san. And remember, she always loved you and had no regrets with sacrificing her life for you."

Ichigo had a lone man tear in his eye as he turned away from his father with a smile on his face. "Thanks." Was his simple reply that made Rukia smile before his smile hardened into a smirk as he looked at Grand-Fisher, "Ready for round two, tough guy?"

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Ichigo, Rukia, and Isshin almost face-faulted at the bitch scream that erupted from Grand-Fisher's mouth before the hollow turned around and began to pace away like someone had set his ass on fire. "Guess not…" Ichigo grumbled nonchalantly, holding his sword up in the air before charging blue spiritual pressure to it skilfully, lighting it up in a radiant glow, "**Getsuga Tenshou**!" Swinging his arm with ferocity, Ichigo release a powerful half-moon-shaped wave of energy that chased after Grand-Fisher and impaled him quickly, carrying him off to two buildings which resulted in an explosion that destroyed said buildings easily.

XxX

(Karakura High School – Classroom - Orihime and Tatsuki)

XxX

The girls had to wonder where Ichigo was, especially taking into a count that Ryosuke never returned home before they'd to leave for school.

'Where could Ichigo-kun be?' Tatsuki thought with her left cheek held in her hand while the teacher blabbed on about something she didn't care about.

Orihime had similar thoughts running through her head as well. 'Maybe Ryo-kun and Kurosaki-san are off saving the day or something.' Orihime guessed.

Not even Chad knew where the fuck his brethren was, 'Hmm… Ichigo, we usually stick together. I don't like being left in the dark, especially after I vowed to always have your back man. But I understand if you must do what you gotta do.'

Mizuiro noticed the trio deep thoughtful expressions, 'They must be wondering where Ichigo-san is today. But Inoue-san did look rather worry when she mentioned that she never got to see her friend before she came here.'

Keigo was checking out a sexy girl when suddenly Orihime and Tatsuki inexplicably jumped up from their seats and turned towards the window.

"Is everything okay, Inoue-san, Arisawa-san?" The teacher asked the girls while everyone eyes lingered on them weirdly, as if something had come over the girls and the class didn't know what it was.

Tatsuki looked at the teacher strangely, 'Didn't she feel that huge earthquake?'

'Two buildings were destroyed?' Orihime thought shyly, not having the courage to speak up on the matter after seeing the big explosion that expended in the distance. She looked at Tatsuki who gave a short nod with narrowed eyes, as if telling her they'd speak about that later, "Sorry, I thought I saw a spider." She excused sheepishly, getting Tatsuki to nod.

The class shared a little chuckle that the two (except their friends), before the teacher shushed them commandingly, "Never mind girls. We all make mistakes. See that it doesn't happen again."

The girls nodded and re-took their places on their seats, trying their best to forget about the embarrassing incident. Ryo looked at the two with her hand cupping the left side of her chin. 'Something must've happened to that Ryosuke-kid for them to react to such a minor thing.' She surmised.

She had no idea.

XxX

(Cemetery)

XxX

'Incredible… Ichigo has unlocked his shikai, and is so strong now.' Rukia awed at Ichigo.

Isshin stumbled to his feet shakily while Ichigo looked at his sword dumbly, "That was excellent my boy! You did better than I expected you too!"

Ichigo looked at Isshin, "Yeah. Anyone know how I done that attack? Because I sure don't!"

Rukia face-planted while Isshin merely chuckled heartily, "Don't worry about it Ichigo! You're on your way to becoming a true shinigami my son! Oh, and that was your shikai signature attack: **Getsuga Tenshou**!" Isshin stated proudly.

"I see." Ichigo said calmly, narrowing his eyes at his dad. "So it's true that you're a shinigami too, tou-san. It doesn't matter." Ichigo dismissed the issue for now as he turned to look at Rukia, confusing the girl. "I'm more concerned with you. What happened to you when you screamed?"

Before Rukia could explain that she didn't know, a scream was heard from Yuzu before she, Karin, and Yoruichi with Naruto's body walked over to them. "Onii-chan!" Yuzu gave Ichigo a hug before looking her onii-chan over. "Wow Onii-chan! You've got new clothes and a cool sword. I guess that means you could give Naruto-kun a good fight."

Ichigo smirked with his nose in the air, "Yep. You hear that punk!" Ichigo yelled as he looked at Naruto on Yoruichi's shoulder, "Listen to me you stupid bastard! I could destroy ya now with this kind of power I possess!"

"He's not even in there Ichi-nii." Karin deadpanned while she held her head from the powers of Naruto and Ogre combined. "He's fighting his own battle at the moment. That Kisuke-guy went off to pick up Naruto now, seeing as that fight's reaching its climax."

Ichigo nodded, "I see."

Karin looked at Rukia, "So I guess you were the one who gave Ichi-nii his powers, right?"

Rukia nodded, "Yeah." Cat was out of the bag now. No sense in hiding it any longer. Besides, she was more concerned to know why Naruto and Ichigo were attacked on this particular day, "So Naruto-san is also in a battle of his own?"

Yuzu hummed in affirmation while Ichigo jumped back into his physical body, "Yeah. That scary guy who hurt Ryosuke confronted Karin-chan and I and told us he wants to make onii-sama and Naruto-kun complete in a special event."

Isshin's eyes widened hearing that his precious daughters came face to face with Goro without protection. "Oh no, I'm sorry Karin-chan, Yuzu-chan, papa won't let that mean man hurt either of you again!" He wailed as he bent down in front of the two girls, making everyone sweat drop at his over antics.

"Luckily Karin and Yuzu weren't Goro's initial target." Yoruichi said seriously, narrowing her eyes as she looked at Rukia, "Rukia, Yuzu, and Karin say Goro was after you when Kisuke and I ran into them at the bottom of the hill."

"Me?" Rukia replied confusingly, pointing at herself while the twins nodded simply. "What would he want with me for?"

"Yeah what would he want with Rukia!" Ichigo scowled. "Maybe he was the cause for Rukia's strange disappearance when I was fighting that bitch hollow!"

"You disappeared!?" Yoruichi questioned in shock and Rukia nodded sadly.

"It's unfortunate that it's true. I have no idea either. All I know now is this gigai that I'm in now feels a whole lot lighter than before I was taken away against my will." Rukia elaborated.

"Was anything in that body?" Karin asked.

"Not to my knowledge. No." Rukia replied in an intellect tone of voice.

"That has to be something that Goro wanted from inside of you. If he just wanted to kill or to kidnap you he could've done so right after he took you… legitimately speaking." Yoruichi spoke up, "Then there this event Goro speaks about. The only event I can think of would be the 'The Hellish Tournament of All'."

"What the hell's that miss?" Ichigo asked politely now that he was calmer.

Isshin spoke up, "'The Hellish Tournament of All' was designed to resolve issues without the need to head to war to do so. It prevented many unnecessary deaths, but warriors still died. However, it was better than millions of warriors that could've died to the few hundreds that did die and ceased to exist any-more. It was first created when the barrior between Hueco Mundo and the Soul Society was broken, leaving it open for all hell to break loose. That was prevented when the spirit king suggested a five man tournament and whatever team won got any wish they wanted."

"Can they wish to become Spirit King themselves?" Ichigo asked and Isshin nodded. "That's insane! No wonder that bastard wants this tournament so bad then!"

"Calm down." Yoruichi chided. "Let's not jump to any hasty conclusions. It's nothing but mere speculation at this point in time. I'll have to look into the matter with Kisuke after he drops off Whiskers-kun at his house."

Everyone gave short nods at that. They didn't know what Goro's motives was and were completed flabbergasted for the most part why Rukia wasn't at least kidnapped, but they were determined to not get bullied about by Goro or his sick twisted plans for a fight.

XxX

(Out on the Ocean - Naruto v Ogre – Final Confrontation)

XxX

"**You ready**?"

"Bring it on bitch!"

Ogre asked and Naruto gave him a straightforward answer as the two release their comprehensive beams of energy. The phoenix let loose with a humongous red sphere and the lightning-boy launched his beam of thunder from his index finger with simultaneous shouts of…

"**Shōmetsu no gokuaku hidōna bōru/****Kaminari Hatsubai: Zettaiteki hakai. Roketto kyanon!"** (**Diabolical ball of annihilation/Lightning Release: Absolute destruction. Rocket cannon****)****!**

A tremendous explosion occurred in the middle of the ocean as the steroid blasts of devastation hit each other in a struggle for dominance but both gave up and morphed together to massive a super-sized heat-dome of sorts that rocked the very ocean and covered the massive bird form of Ogre and lightning form of Naruto. After the energy blasts disappeared, Naruto and Ogre, now back into their normal shinigami forms, descended from the sky in terrible conditions.

The hilts of their Zanpakutos survived, but the rest of them were completely eradicated as their bloodied bodies was in full view due to their shihakushos being burned off.

Kisuke appeared via flash-step, catching the lads out of the sky, "You guys are so lucky I decided to come back for you two. But then again you'll have to thank Karin-san for that. She sensed that you two were reaching your limits so I came to help you two out of the war-zone. Good thing I did." Kisuke said, looking at the smoking ocean.

Kisuke sighed, "C'mon you two, we have much to discuss. Hopefully Ogre my man you'll be able to meet your sister. But that'll be your choice if you decide to reveal yourself to her. Not ours."

XxX

(Abandoned Warehouse – Goro – Later that night)

XxX

Goro stood casually with his hands tucked into his pockets. "Things worked out swimmingly in the end. Leader-sama should be pleased with today's work."

Grand-Fisher played his part well. He distracted Ichigo long enough for Goro to get his hands on Rukia and take the prize from within her that the leader wanted from her all a long. And let's not forget Ichigo had unlocked his Shikai in his battle with the now formerly known hollow as Grand-Fisher. That was excellent. Now he'd provide a battle worth taking part in.

The doors of the Senkaimon appeared in the warehouse, making Goro get on one knee as a man wearing a white cloak to conceal his identity stepped out of it with an air of supremacy about him.

"Evening my lord. I trust you'd no difficulties sneaking out of the Soul Society." Goro greeted.

The man lifted his head up slightly to reveal a strand of his brown hair falling between his eyes, "It was a little bothersome but of no real concern Goro-san. I merely used my hypnosis to make everyone believe I stayed in the hospital with the wounded Hitsugaya, Rangiku, and Ikkaku."

Goro looked up at the man. "I expect no less from you Leader-sama."

"Charmed." The leader said simply, holding out his hand in an expectant manner, "Do you have the Hougyoku?"

Goro stood up, taking his right hand out of his pocket before flashing a purple diamond of sorts at the apparent leader, "Just as you requested." He chucked the Hougyoku at the man casually.

The man caught it superbly, marvelling at the crystal in his hand with a glint in his eye. "Impressive… It's just what I'd expect from Urahara Kisuke. But it is still not mature enough. Its still needs time to fully develop."

"What is the plan now, Leader-sama?" Goro asked.

The boss had a calm smile underneath his hoody, hiding his malevolence. "I will make my move after the tournament. And there will be one. I can guarantee it. That Naruto's become too powerful to the point it'd be like starting a war with him if Anna-sama sends out the troops to recall Rukia to give her the execution penalty for surrendering her powers away to a mere human… there'll be a tournament to decide her fate. Count on it."

"Excellent…"


End file.
